In the United States, residential buildings and office buildings account for 75% of electricity consumption and 40% of total energy use. Because windows leak energy, windows are an important part of solving problems.
Lance Wheeler, a solar expert at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Gore, Colorado, said: The recent series of research results point to the same solution – turning windows into solar panels. In the past, materials scientists have incorporated light absorbing films into glass windows. However, such solar windows tend to have red or brown tones, which architects find unattractive. However, the new solar window technology can only absorb invisible ultraviolet and infrared light, which makes the glass clear and transparent, while blocking the ultraviolet and infrared radiation that normally leaks through the glass, which sometimes generates some unnecessary heat. Wheeler said that by reducing heat emissions while generating electricity, such windows "have broad prospects," including the possibility that large office buildings will be able to supply their own electricity.
Most solar cells, like the standard crystalline silicon cells that dominate the industry, sacrifice transparency for maximum efficiency. Efficiency here refers to the percentage of energy converted into electricity in sunlight. The highest quality silicon cells are 25% efficient, while a class of opaque solar cells called "perovskites" are nearly as efficient as silicon cells with a maximum efficiency of 22%. Perovskites are not only cheaper than silicon, but they can also absorb light in specific frequency bands by adjusting the ratio of chemical components.
Not long ago, a research team led by Richard Lunt, a chemical engineer at Michigan State University, reported that the team adjusted the material to develop a UV-absorbing perovskite solar window with an efficiency of 0.5. %. Although this solar window is far less efficient than the best performance perovskite Cells, Lent says it is enough to power another solar window technology: once it is needed, it can darken the glass and block the intense heat of the day light, thus reducing the need for air conditioning in the building. Lent believes that in the next few years, his team will unimpededly make solar windows 4% efficient. With this efficiency, the battery can provide power for lighting and air conditioning in some buildings.
Michael McGehee, a solar window expert and perovskite expert at Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., says that it's time to think about translucent solar windows. For example, last year the US Department of Energy gave $2.5 million to the next-generation energy technology company in Santa Barbara, Calif., to improve its translucent organic solar window technology. The company's solar windows achieve 7% efficiency, and the windows used absorb half of the incident sunlight, including visible light. It may be darker than transparent glass, but it does not exhibit an unsightly red or brown hue because it absorbs light from the entire spectrum rather than light in a specific frequency band. McGee, a consultant for the next generation of energy technology companies, said: "It turns out that absorbing about half of all visible light seems to be a good technology."
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