A group of researchers has developed a new method for producing photovoltaic solar panels that still allow light to pass through. These transparent solar cells, which can be installed in offices, homes, factories, and other structures, have the potential to spark a new energy revolution. Transparent solar cells can take up little space while producing clean, green energy by simply replacing windows. The researchers were able to create organic solar cells using a novel method that is easily scalable for mass production.
“In principle, we can now scale semitransparent organic solar cells to two meters by two meters,” said Stephen Forrest, Professor of Electrical Engineering and lead author of the study published in the journal Joule.
The vast majority of solar cells used today are silicon-based, resulting in a completely opaque panel. While recent development and research into silicon photovoltaic cells has increased, alternative solar cell technologies such as organic solar cells are slowly being explored as well, despite their efficiency and lifespan lags behind silicon panels. Forrest’s team of researchers has created solar cells with a record efficiency of 10% and a 30-year lifespan.
The most significant barrier to widespread adoption of organic solar cells has been the inability to scale manufacturing for it until now. Because the lasers used to etch the micron-scale electrical connections in silicon scales would easily damage the plastic light absorbers, they could not be used on organic cells.
Instead, Forrest’s team devised a multistep peel-off patterning method capable of making micron-scale connections. Thin pieces of patterned plastic were placed between the organic and metal layers and peeled away to create extremely fine electrical interconnections between the cells.
The panels are suitable for commercial use because they have about 50% transparency and a greenish tint. The newly developed technique can also be used to create technologies that make solar cells even more transparent for use at home.
“Our research is derisking the technology so that manufacturers can make the investments required to enter large-scale production,” Forrest explained.
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