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Breakthrough: Transparent solar cells become more efficient

In the search for ways to make residential and commercial buildings more ecological, scientists continue to gain new insights. Now, apparently, there has been another breakthrough involving the harvesting of solar energy. It has been discovered that transparent solar cells are far more efficient than conventional photovoltaic systems. That could ensure that in the future one equips also windows and other components of the building with solar cells.

Are transparent solar cells the future?

The EU is unanimous that solar will be mandatory for all new buildings in the next few years. Consequently, various researchers are currently working meticulously on new ways to be able to collect solar energy. One possibility is so-called dye-sensitized solar cells (DSCs). The idea has been around for some time, as the transparent solar cells can also be used in windows of houses, for example. However, their energy efficiency has been limited until now. This now appears to be coming to an end. A research team consisting of scientists from Sweden and Switzerland announced on October 26, 2022, that they had significantly improved the efficiency. A corresponding research report can now be read in the scientific journal Nature.

Also interesting: Emissions-free: California uses “Crimson Storage” energy storage.

Transparent solar cells not only conceivable in houses

There are many possibilities for transparent solar cells that produce electricity. For example, it should be possible to install them not only in windows. Future displays in smartphones, notebooks or tablets could then also be equipped with corresponding cells. According to the researchers, the whole thing should not involve horrendous additional costs. After all, they say, production is surprisingly inexpensive. Even if installation in mobile devices seems practical, real estate will probably serve as the main area of application. Especially in buildings with many glass surfaces, such as greenhouses, this technology can be very well imagined. Energy-intensive facilities such as data centers could also use the new solar cells to operate in a more environmentally friendly manner. Strict environmental regulations are something the German Federal Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection would like to get underway soon.

We cannot express in layman’s terms how scientists have succeeded in making transparent solar cells more powerful. For this reason, we refer you to the explanations from the research report:

Here we report a way to pre-adsorb a monolayer of a hydroxamic acid derivative on the surface of TiO2 to improve the dye molecule packing and photovoltaic performance of two newly developed coadsorbed sensitizers that harvest light quantitatively over the entire visible range.

Solar technology continues to improve

Currently, many research groups are working to improve solar technology. In addition to the landmark result achieved by the Swedish-Swiss team of scientists, there are always smaller breakthroughs around the world. However, the focus is usually on improving classic photovoltaic systems. These not only become more efficient through further developments. On top of that, the scientists have managed to produce the corresponding solar cells not only in a more environmentally friendly way, but also more cheaply.

Simon Lüthje

I am co-founder of this blog and am very interested in everything that has to do with technology, but I also like to play games. I was born in Hamburg, but now I live in Bad Segeberg.

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