New Energy Researchers Develop First-ever Prototype

Improved transparency and color of our SolarWindow coatings allows for the development of a consumer-popular product which generates electricity on see-through glass while mimicking the aesthetic look of today’s popular window tint and films,” explained  John A. Conklin, president and CEO of New Energy, in the relese. “I’m most pleased that our researchers are not only working towards functionality but an attractive SolarWindow as well.”



Researchers developing SolarWindow have successfully coated the glass surface of a working lab-scale prototype with newly-discovered, organic electricity-generating coatings comprised primarily of hydrogen and carbon. These new coatings favorably influence various electronic, electrochemical, and optical properties of SolarWindow, essential to producing a highly transparent and aesthetically pleasing soft window tint and color.



New Energy researchers have made inventions that are awaiting 10 patent applications with the United States Patent and Trademark Office.



Among such SolarWindow-related inventions is the discovery of novel coatings, which remain see-through while generating electricity and can be sprayed on to glass surfaces. Unlike temperature and pressure sensitive manufacturing required in the production of other solar-photovoltaic products, New Energy’s electricity-generating coatings can be applied by spray at room-temperature, which keeps the manufacturing costs low.



Recently, researchers determined to investigate commercial applications beyond glass successfully generated electricity on flexible plastic using the company’s ‘spray-on’ coating methods. Scientists sprayed the company’s electricity-generating coatings onto flexible, lightweight lab-scale plastic (polyethylene terephthalate or PET) at room temperature and at low pressure. Scientists anticipate that commercially developed electricity-generating flexible plastic could be deployed as tinted window film, which remains see-through while generating electrical power.



Currently under development for commercial deployment in the estimated 85 million commercial buildings and homes in America, SolarWindow is the world’s first-of-its-kind technology capable of generating electricity on see-through glass windows, according to the release.