Window Glass Solar Power Prototype in Development

Solar cells in transparent plastic (New Energy Technologies Inc.)

Researchers at New Energy Technologies Inc. of Burtonsville, Maryland report achieving scientific and technical breakthroughs allowing completion in the upcoming weeks of a working prototype of the world’s first glass window capable of generating electricity.

Current solar energy systems use opaque panels. The ability to generate electricity with transparent glass windows, however, is limited by metals and processes that block visibility and prevent light from passing through glass surfaces. New Energy’s system generates power using the world’s smallest working organic solar cells, developed by physicist Xiaomei Jiang at the University of South Florida, and licensed to New Energy. The cells are about one-quarter the size of a grain of rice. Xiaomei Jiang and two of her University of South Florida colleagues published their findings on organic solar cell manufacturing in the Journal of Renewable and Sustainable Energy.

In addition to reducing their size, the solar cells need to be applied or attached to window glass. To meet this requirement, the company developed a process for spraying the solar cell material on window glass at normal room temperatures. New Energy’s solar cells can generate electricity from both natural and artificial light sources.