Engineers at the University of Michigan and other institutions have developed a new solar panel that is transparent enough to come in handy for use as windows. Additionally, solar panels are highly efficient and can last up to three decades. The team believes their new panel can be used to build commercial spaces with surfaces made entirely of solar panels.

If a multistory building was created using transparent solar panels, it will become a power generator. A lifespan of 30 years is a long time, but commercial buildings will be around much longer than that, which leads to a question of what exactly happens to the building if the panels expire. The engineers made these panels after exploring carbon-based materials rather than silicon.

Previous methods aren’t as efficient

Currently, the most efficient solar panels are built out of silicon, but they aren’t transparent. Two kinds of materials are used in solar cells called “non-fullerene acceptors” and “fullerene acceptors.” The former is more robust but less efficient than the latter.

A typical cell developed with non-fullerene acceptors can be efficient up to 18 percent, near that of a silicon cell. However, their lifespan is short. While experimenting, researchers on the project showed that without using methods to protect the material in the panel, that makes electricity with the help of sunlight, efficiency was reduced to less than 40 percent of the initial value within 12 weeks when exposed to sunlight.

Keeping 80% efficiency after 30 years

Engineers studied the degradation in the unprotected solar cell and found out where they can improve the design. The upgrades included blocking UV rays with the aid of a zinc oxide layer to the sun-facing side of the glass.

As of now, the transparency of the module is 40 percent, but the engineers think they can improve it to 60 percent in the future. Their material can also be made as a liquid, and the team hopes the manufacturing cost will be less. Engineers claim that the latest transparent solar panels would maintain 80 percent efficiency after three decades.