New transparent solar cells could lead to ‘smart windows’ that
generate electricity Transparent polymer solar cells produced by
solution processing. Image by UCLA Imagine a day when the
windows in your home could generate electricity. Well,
researchers at University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) say
they have developed a new type of transparent polymer solar cell
that could lead to giving windows in homes and other buildings
the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people
to see through them. The UCLA team has just had its research
findings published in the nanoscience and nanotech journal ACS
Nano. The scientists and engineers involved in the study hailed
from the California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI), the UCLA Henry
Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA's
department of chemistry and biochemistry. They are claiming to
have come up with a new type of polymer solar cell (PSC) that
produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible
light. As a result, the