New Energy Technologies Inc. has offered a glimpse of its next generation SolarWindow™ technology.
The new coatings can cover an area of over 232 cm² – over 35% larger than the company’s previously-fabricated, 170 cm² working module achievement.
The latest SolarWindow was created through the efforts of New Energy’s Principal Scientist, Dr. Scott Hammond, in collaboration with U.S. Department of Energy National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) researchers.
“We continue to meet and exceed our device design, architecture, uniformity, color, and transparency development goals,” said John A. Conklin, President and CEO of New Energy Technologies, Inc. “Accomplishing these goals allows us to now advance towards larger area, commercial scale windows while maintaining uniform, neutral colors and scalable power.”
New Energy says SolarWindow is capable of operating in direct, diffuse, and shaded sunlight conditions; as well as generating electricity from both natural and artificial light sources including fluorescent, LED’s and incandescent lighting.
The coatings are made with organic materials (polymers), which can be dissolved into liquid form and applied to a variety of surfaces such as flexible plastics and glass. The coatings can be applied using high-speed and high-volume systems such as roll-to-roll or large area sheet-to-sheet processes.
The production method does not require high-temperature or high-vacuum and can be sprayed on to glass at room temperature. The coating creates a solar array composed of a series of tiny solar cells; each measuring less than ¼ the size of a grain. The ultra-thin coating is only 1/1000th the thickness of a human hair, or 1/10th of a micrometre.
SolarWindow is still under development for eventual commercial deployment and the company is hungrily eyeing the 5 million commercial buildings in the USA as a primary market. The associated technology is the subject of 42 patent applications.
SolarWindow was selected as the Energy Innovation Award winner for 2013 by Energy Business Review (EBR).
