Highly read on apl.aip.org in April

Light striking the windows of houses and skyscrapers could one day be harvested thanks to the creation of solar cells that are transparent to visible light.

Windows typically transmit 55–90% of visible light. Richard Lunt and Vladimir Bulovic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge have developed an organic solar cell made from chloroaluminium phthalocyanine and carbon-60, which absorb ultraviolet and near-infrared light. The researchers also added near-infrared mirror coatings to boost performance. The cell's efficiency of 1.7% is comparable to that of a similar opaque cell, 2.4%. The authors say that their device transmits enough visible light (55%) to be useful for architectural glass.

Appl. Phys. Lett. 98, 113305 (2011)