Renewable energy systems have advanced over time as old-fashioned coal-powerd electricity is slowly fading to history in developed countries. Solar energy, among others, has marked some pretty exciting breakthroughs and smart solar windows are one of them!
After multiple previous attempts, a team of researchers from Michigan State University in 2015 managed to develop fully transparent solar panels – a breakthrough that could lead to countless applications in architecture.
Any type of technology that uses windows on buildings to generate electricity from the sun could be classified as a “solar panel window.” Even though the idea of such solar windows has existed for some time, their functionality could never be fully achieved. As we know, traditional opaque solar panels use photovoltaic technology, meaning they capture energy in the form of light and use it to generate electricity. Because windows are meant to let light through, windows that act as solar panels need to reconcile letting incoming light through to illuminate a room and also capturing incoming light to use for energy production. A solar window that doesn’t let enough light simply acts as a vertically mounted solar panel; if it lets too much light in, the window can’t generate enough electricity to be cost-effective.
However, solar power has undergone a revolution in recent years, thanks to an upstart family of crystalline materials called perovskites. Now, perovskites are transforming windows, keeping them clear on cold days, but turning them dark in the hot summer sun. Two research groups report that they’ve created perovskite-tinted windows that not only transition based on the temperature but also harvest power like solar cells. The new technology could one day help cool buildings by shading out sunlight and generating power to boot.
Credits: JIA LIN
The first advance in combining all these features came in November 2017, when researchers reported they had created a lead-based perovskite solar window that switched from transparent to opaque when the temperature hit 60°C.
The newest solar windows still have their downsides. The biggest is that the efficiency of the solar cells drops after only a few times switching back and forth, probably because the methylamine fails to fully return the perovskite to its starting crystalline arrangement.
However, with technology advancing further, researchers are continuously working towards an increase in efficiency and multifunctionality. And how great that it? A window which lets light in and at the same time produces clean electricity!
Sources: Science Mag, Energy Sage, Arch2o
