Highly Transparent Solar Cell with 2D Atomic Sheet Successfully Fabricated

We’ve all seen stunning homes where solar panels on the roof didn’t add to the home’s intended look. A research group created a highly transparent and almost invisible solar cell with a 2D atomic sheet and a visible transparency of approximately 79%.

The researchers controlled the contact barriers between indium tin oxide (ITO), a widely used transparent conducting oxide, and a monolayer tungsten disulfide. They coated a variety of thin metals onto the ITO and inserted a thin layer of Tungsten Oxide between the coated ITO and the tungsten disulfide.

The resulting solar cell delivered power conversion efficiency over 1000 times that of a device using a standard ITO electrode. The team also explored how their solar cell can be expanded for use in an actual solar panel while avoiding an unexpected voltage drop that accompanies increasing the device area. They published details of their research in the journal Scientific Reports.