A polymer solar cell developed by a team from the University of California, Los Angeles can absorb and convert infrared light into energy to make a transparent photovoltaic device.

Because it absorbs infrared light and not visible light, the cells can be nearly 70 percent transparent to the human eye. The researchers believe that their solar cell is an advance toward the idea of solar windows.

Previous attempts at visibly transparent or semitransparent polymer solar cells have resulted in either low visible light transparency or low device efficiency.

But the current researchers were able to achieve 4 percent power conversion efficiency for their transparent polymer cells. While this may be small compared with solar cells made from silicon, it is an encouraging improvement.

"These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications," said study leader Yang Yang, a professor of materials science and engineering at the university.

The U.C.L.A. polymer solar cell uses a near-infrared light-sensitive polymer and silver nanowire composite films as the top transparent electrode. The near-infrared photoactive polymer absorbs more near-infrared light but is less sensitive to visible light, balancing solar cell performance and transparency in the visible wavelength region.

The study was supported by the Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, the Office of Naval Research and The Kavli Foundation. – EcoSeed Staff

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