Semi-transparent solar cells present 'boon for building owners'

The researchers - led by Prof Jacek Jasieniak from the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science and Monash University - have made the breakthrough with next-generation perovskite solar cells. They are now investigating how the new technology could be built into commercial products with Viridian Glass, Australia's largest glass manufacturer.

Solar powered smart windows offer retrofit solution to temperature control

The researchers claim that two square metres of solar window will generate about as much electricity as a standard rooftop solar panel. The research, supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA), is described in a paper published in Nano Energy.

Previous designs have failed because they were very expensive, unstable or inefficient. Prof Jasieniak's team used an organic semiconductor that can be made into a polymer and used it to replace a commonly used solar cell component (Spiro-OMeTAD), which shows very low stability because it develops a watery coating.