UCLA Develops Electricity-Generating, Transparent Solar Cell Windows
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The article states: “…the UCLA team found that the near-infrared photoactive polymer absorbed more near-infrared light but was less sensitive to visible light.”
The potential problem that I see is that the magnitude of the visible light from the sun is much higher than the energy from infrared. (An image of the solar radiation, separated into the UV, visible, and IR portions of the spectrum is shown in the following link: http://academic.uprm.edu/hdc/documents/Capturelsdfl.JPG ) Consequently, the transparent solar cells may not be very efficient. I wonder if the solar cells are capable of capturing the UV portion of the spectrum?