A research team from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea has developed transparent solar cell technology capable of directly charging a...

A research team from the Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) in South Korea has developed transparent solar cell technology capable of directly charging a battery from a glass surface. This innovation offers numerous applications, allowing for direct energy generation from sources like smartphone screens, car windows, and building facades.

Study: https://news.unist.ac.kr/new-study-unveils-all-back-contact-neutral-colored-transparent-crystalline-silicon-solar-cells-enabling-seamless-modularization/

  • Emotet@slrpnk.netEnglish
    1·
    2 months ago

    Great points.

    Regular solar cells with better efficiency are already are thing, even in a compact travel format or as a novelty part of some electric cars. Those are cheap to produce, but still aren’t practical at all, unless we’re talking about something like a 2m² solar panel to charge a phone in a somewhat reasonable time on a very sunny day in an off-grid situation.

    Using transparent solar cells additionally to regular ones in buildings instead of windows is pretty much the only reasonable application I can think of right now, but with a visible transmittance of 20% that’s kinda farfetched as well.