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Home > Press > New American Chemical Society podcast: Transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity

Abstract:
The latest episode in the American Chemical Society's (ACS') award-winning Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions podcast series reports development of a new transparent solar cell, an advance toward giving windows in homes and other buildings the ability to generate electricity while still allowing people to see outside.

New American Chemical Society podcast: Transparent solar cells for windows that generate electricity

Washington, DC | Posted on October 11th, 2012

Based on a report by Yang Yang, Ph.D.; Rui Zhu, Ph.D.; and Paul S. Weiss, Ph.D.; in ACS Nano, the podcast is available without charge at iTunes and from www.acs.org/globalchallenges.

In the new episode, Yang and Weiss explain that there has been intense world-wide interest in so-called polymer solar cells (PSCs), which are made from plastic-like materials, to generate energy. The advantages of PSCs are that they are lightweight and flexible and can be produced in high volume at low cost. Researchers also have been interested in making the PSCs transparent. However, previous versions of transparent PSCs have had many disadvantages, which the team set out to correct.

The scientists describe a new kind of PSC that they've developed that produces energy by absorbing mainly infrared light, not visible light, making the cells 66 percent transparent to the human eye. They made the device from a photoactive plastic that converts infrared light into an electrical current. Another breakthrough is the transparent conductor, which replaces the opaque metal electrode used in the past. The authors suggest the panels could be used in smart windows or portable electronics.

Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions is a series of podcasts describing some of the 21st century's most daunting problems, and how cutting-edge research in chemistry matters in the quest for solutions. Global Challenges is the centerpiece in an alliance on sustainability between ACS and the Royal Society of Chemistry. Global Challenges is a sweeping panorama of global challenges that includes dilemmas such as providing a hungry, thirsty world with ample supplies of safe food and clean water; developing alternatives to petroleum to fuel society; preserving the environment and assuring a sustainable future for our children and improving human health.

For more entertaining, informative science videos and podcasts from the ACS Office of Public Affairs, view Prized Science, Spellbound, Science Elements and Global Challenges/Chemistry Solutions.

The American Chemical Society is a nonprofit organization chartered by the U.S. Congress. With more than 164,000 members, ACS is the world's largest scientific society and a global leader in providing access to chemistry-related research through its multiple databases, peer-reviewed journals and scientific conferences. Its main offices are in Washington, D.C., and Columbus, Ohio.

To automatically receive news releases from the American Chemical Society, contact newsroom@acs.org .

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Contacts:
American Chemical Society
1155 Sixteenth Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20036
T 202-872-6042
F 202-872-4370

Michael Bernstein
202-872-6042
m_bernstein@acs.org

Michael Woods
202-872-6293
m_woods@acs.org