These cells are created by Ubiquitous Energy. According to the MIT Technology Review, they started working on this project back in 2013. Now three years later they are almost ready to bring their product to market. As they say on their website (link above), their ClearView Power Technology will allow for any transparent surface to gather solar power without losing its transparency.
How Do theses Solar Cells Work?
This video gives an explanation as to the thought process that led to their discoveries.
Essentially, this video tells us that where others have failed, they have triumphed. That is, they have created a transparent solar cell. They did this by targeting the non-visible light, like ultraviolet and infrared, instead of all of the light. This allows the cell to be transparent to the human eye while still collecting energy from the sun.
Here is a another video that explains in a bit more detail how the energy is actually collected and converted.
For more information check out ExtremeTech.com. They do a really good job of explaining the science behind how it works.
What are the Potential Applications?
As the Ubiquitous Energy website describes, they believe that their technology will be able to adapt any transparent surface into a power source. Now what does that mean for the general population? Imagine that you have this technology on all of the windows in your house. This would allow for an unobtrusive way to power some of the appliances and outlets in your home. Now imagine this technology is integrated into smartphones. This would have the potential for your phone to become self sufficient, meaning you may never have to charge your phone ever again (as long as you get sunlight). This is a great leap in the field of renewable energy, putting us one step closer to a cleaner future.
