Scientists produce transparent, light-harvesting material -
James E. Rickman - Communications Office - (505) 665-9203
Breakthrough could lead to solar-power-generating windows LOS
ALAMOS, New Mexico, NOVEMBER 3, 2010—Scientists at the U.S.
Department of Energy's Los Alamos National Laboratory and
Brookhaven National Laboratory have fabricated transparent thin
films capable of absorbing light and generating electric charge
over a relatively large area. The material, described in the
journal Chemistry of Materials, could be used in development of
transparent solar panels. "Potentially, with future refinement
of this technology, windows in a home or office could generate
solar power," said Hsing-Lin Wang, a co-corresponding author of
the paper and a researcher in the Chemistry Division at Los
Alamos. The new material is a semiconducting polymer spiked with
"fullerenes"—soccer-ball-shaped, cage-like molecules composed of
60 carbon atoms. When applied to a surface under carefully
controlled conditions, the materia