Researchers at Oxford Photovoltaics have developed semi-transparent solar glazing panels to enable windows in the home to generate power, replacing window glass with a semi-transparent photovoltaic pa…
Researchers at Oxford Photovoltaics have developed semi-transparent solar glazing panels to enable windows in the home to generate power, replacing window glass with a semi-transparent photovoltaic panel. The company has developed thin-film, dye-sensitized solar cells that can be printed onto glass and other surfaces. The glazing panels are semi-transparent, and made in a variety of colours and tints. According to Oxford Photovoltaics chief executive Kevin Arthur, the manufacturing cost of the product is half that of today“s lowest-cost thin-film technology. We“re using the simplest screen printing processes to make a product from readily available, low-cost ingredients“, which can be scaled up quickly on a substrate [glass] that people prefer to use, Arthur says. Adding the photovoltaic layer to a window would represent a fairly trivial additional cost and in return you would get electrical energy and lower the building“s carbon footprint.