Invisible Solar Cells That Could Power Skyscrapers

CLEARVIEW POWER™ TECHNOLOGY

• Invisible: Up to 90% visible light transmitted; absorbs only ultraviolet and infrared
• Efficient: Over 10% achievable; optimization is independent of transparency
• Low cost: low-cost, non-toxic materials; industry standard deposition equipment
• Thin and light: film is less than 1/1000th of a millimeter thick
• Ubiquitous: ClearView Power™ can generate electricity on any surface or device without aesthetic impact

ClearView Power™: Ubiquitous Energy has redesigned the solar cell to selectively transmit light visible to the human eye while absorbing only the ultraviolet and infrared light and converting it into electricity. This makes ClearView Power™ technology the first truly transparent solar technology, allowing any surface to convert ambient light into useful electricity without impacting the way it looks. Two thirds of the light available for energy harvesting is in the ultraviolet and the infrared, leading to practical efficiencies over 10% while maintaining up to 90% visible transparency. ClearView Power™ leverages Ubiquitous Energy’s technology and patent portfolio, including exclusive rights to award-winning technology developed by the company co-founders at MIT.

Conventional Solar: Photovoltaics absorb ambient light and convert it into useful electricity, offering the promise of ubiquitous, clean, renewable energy. However, conventional solar cells are opaque, which limits their use to a few specific applications (e.g., roof mounted) due to aesthetic constraints. Previous attempts to make these solar cells transparent have focused on allowing only a portion of visible light to pass through by either thinning down the photoactive material or segmenting cells across the module area. Because this approach suffers from a tradeoff between transparency and efficiency, neither is achieved.

Pilot Production: To bring ClearView Power technology to market, Ubiquitous Energy established prototyping and pilot production capabilities in Silicon Valley with a complete set of fabrication, characterization, and environmental testing tools. This facility is designed to prepare ClearView Power™ for mass production. Non-toxic, readily available materials are deposited by industry-standard vacuum deposition techniques common in high-throughput film coating processes, and the low-temperature deposition process can utilize rigid or flexible substrates. Ubiquitous Energy is currently working with commercial partners to develop engineering and product prototypes for first applications in mobile and distributed electronics.