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  • Review Article
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Emergence of highly transparent photovoltaics for distributed applications

Nature Energy volume 2, pages 849–860 (2017)Cite this article

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A Publisher Correction to this article was published on 29 January 2018

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Abstract

Solar energy offers a viable solution to our growing energy need. While adoption of conventional photovoltaics on rooftops and in solar farms has grown rapidly in the last decade, there is still plenty of opportunity for expansion. See-through solar technologies with partial light transmission developed over the past 30 years have initiated methods of integration not possible with conventional modules. The large-scale deployment necessary to offset global energy consumption could be further accelerated by developing fully invisible solar cells that selectively absorb ultraviolet and near-infrared light, allowing many of the surfaces of our built environment to be turned into solar harvesting arrays without impacting the function or aesthetics. Here, we review recent advances in photovoltaics with varying degrees of visible light transparency. We discuss the figures of merit necessary to characterize transparent photovoltaics, and outline the requirements to enable their widespread adoption in buildings, windows, electronic device displays, and automobiles.

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Fig. 1: PV systems with various degrees of transmission.
Fig. 2: Theoretical performance limits for single- and multi-junction TPV.
Fig. 3: Survey of TPV.
Fig. 4: Selective optical absorption.
Fig. 5: Wavelength-selective TPV and LSC with >50% AVT.
Fig. 6: Loss mechanisms for luminescent and scattering solar concentrators.
Fig. 7: Integration requirements.

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Change history

  • 29 January 2018

    In the version of this Review originally published, the Fig. 7a y-axis unit was incorrectly given as ‘mW cm2’; it should have read ‘mW cm–2’. This has now been corrected in all versions of the Review.

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Acknowledgements

Financial support for this work was provided by the National Science Foundation (CBET-1511098, 1254662, and 1702591, to C.J.T. and R.R.L.) and by the American Physical Society through the Stanford R. Ovshinsky Sustainable Energy Fellowship Award (R.R.L.). C.J.T. also acknowledges the Department of Education for support under the Graduate Assistantship in Areas of National Need (GAANN) Award (P200A140215). The authors thank G. Flores for assistance with the survey of transparent photovoltaic demonstrations and D. Hess for reviewing the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Christopher J. Traverse & Richard R. Lunt

  2. Ubiquitous Energy, Inc., Redwood City, CA, 94063, USA

    Richa Pandey & Miles C. Barr

  3. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, 48824, USA

    Richard R. Lunt

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R.P., M.C.B., and R.R.L. have minority ownership interest in Ubiquitous Energy. M.C.B. is the current CEO of Ubiquitous Energy. All other authors declare no competing financial interests.

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A correction to this article is available online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0069-9.

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Supplementary Data 1

The tab entitled “PV tables” gathers the data of the literature survey presented in Fig. 3. The tab entitled “LCOE” presents the calculation of the levelized cost of electricity for the proposed PV window films discussed in the manuscript. The tab entitled “Solar flux” presents the calculation of the solar flux as a function of façade orientation

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Traverse, C.J., Pandey, R., Barr, M.C. et al. Emergence of highly transparent photovoltaics for distributed applications. Nat Energy 2, 849–860 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-017-0016-9

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