solar window breakthroughs

10-24-17   

Transparent panels can be used as windows while they generate electricity: Michigan State University

https://www.yahoo.com/news/solar-windows-could-meet-apos-192029549.html
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10-24-17   "We've developed a surprisingly simple, cheap, and effective way to transform regular glass windows into solar-powered heat-screens that could significantly change the thermal balance of living and working spaces, especially if one thinks of the ever increasing amount of huge glass surfaces used in modern architecture," Dmitriev told Phys.org.

The new surfaces are yet another application of nanotechnology, as the main functional components are plasmonic nanoantennas. The tiny antennas are made of nickel-aluminum oxide sandwiches, shaped like nanoellipses, and patterned as an array onto glass. With the help of electron oscillations, or surface plasmons, on the surfaces of these materials, the nanoantennas strongly absorb light, which heats the entire surface.   https://phys.org/news/2017-10-passive-solar-windows-cold-weather.html#jCp

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9-1-17    SolarWindow's proposition is to turn windows into solar panels by way of a thin transparent coating applied to standard glass and plastic windowpanes.  The coating might not generate much power when slapped on your living room window, but SolarWindow is aiming higher — quite literally.  The company hopes to eventually deploy the technology onto office buildings and skyscrapers, generating energy from the acres of glass soaking up the sun. 

The technology behind SolarWindow is proprietary, but it goes something like this: SolarWindow has developed a liquid “organic photovoltaic solar array” (OPV) made from a mixture of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, that can be applied to transparent surfaces. 

The liquid coating produces ultrasmall solar cells formed in groups, or arrays. Sunlight passing through these arrays generates an electrical charge.  That electrical charge is then harvested by a grid of very fine wires, each thinner than a human hair, running through each pane of glass.  The wires shuttle the power to a larger output wire, which is then jacked into any existing power system, as with traditional solar panels.   https://www.seeker.com/earth/energy/clear-liquid-coating-turns-windows-into-solar-panels