Back in August 2014, researchers at the Michigan State University created a fully transparent solar concentrator, which could turn any window or sheet of glass, such as your tablet or smartphone screen into a photovoltaic solar cell.
Scientifically, a transparent solar panel is something of an oxymoron. Solar cells, specifically the photovoltaic kind, make energy by absorbing photons (sunlight) and converting them into electrons (electricity). If a material is transparent, however, by definition it means that all of the light passes through the medium to strike the back of your eye.
Scientifically, a transparent solar panel is something of an oxymoron. Solar cells, specifically the photovoltaic kind, make energy by absorbing photons (sunlight) and converting them into electrons (electricity). If a material is transparent, however, by definition it means that all of the light passes through the medium to strike the back of your eye.
To get around this limitation, the Michigan State researchers use a slightly different technique for gathering sunlight. Instead of trying to create a transparent photovoltaic cell (which is nigh impossible), they use a transparent luminescent solar concentrator (TLSC). The TLSC consists of organic salts that absorb specific non-visible wavelengths of ultraviolet and infra-red light, which they then luminescence (glow) as another wavelength of infra-red light (also non-visible). This emitted infra-red light is guided to the edge of plastic, where thin strips of conventional photovoltaic solar cell convert it into electricity.
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