Colorful Solar Panels are Attractive and Practical

Mar-05-14 Solar panels may become more attractive to consumers with the invention of colorful, transparent solar cells that could be used to make stained glass windows.

The cells, developed by a team from the University of Michigan, are believed to be the first of their kind. While the other methods of creating colored solar cells rely on dye or photonic filters, both of which have drawbacks, the new colored cells are made by depositing layers of amorphous silicon (a-Si) in different thicknesses. The varied thickness forms the color in the panel, with a thickness of 6 nanometers creating a blue color, 11 nm creating green and 31 nm creating red.

The team created a small American flag using the colors, which was able to achieve 2 percent efficiency, compared to 10 percent for current, cutting edge organic cells.

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[GIZMAG.COM]
[UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN]

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