Technology could transform windows into generators

Norwegian company EnSol AS has patented the concept and seeks to develop it commercially by 2016.

The company is now working with engineers at Leicester University’s Department of Physics and Astronomy to scale up the process of depositing gold nanoparticle cells less than 10nm in size in a transparent composite matrix.

Chris Binns, a professor of nanotechnology at Leicester, said this material could one day coat areas such as roofs of cars or aircraft wings.

‘The first application you think of though is coating windows in buildings,’ he said, adding the glass would have a slight tinting.

‘There is power to burn with windows because even in the UK you’ll easily get 500W/m². If you think of a square metre in a typical office building, it’s absolutely massive.’

Binns explained that the technology differs to traditional solar cells because it is based on metal nanoparticles, which have more favourable optical properties to silicon.

‘They have a very intense optical absorption, which is exactly matched to the peak of the sun’s spectrum just by coincidence,’ he said.