VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY

BELAGAVI, KARNATAKA

ACADEMIC YEAR: 2020-2021

A SEMINAR REPORT
ON
“TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS”
A Seminar report submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the VIII th Semester degree of
Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering of
Visvesvaraya Technological University, Belagavi.

Submitted by

PREMKUMAR (3GN17ME055)
Under the guidance of

Prof. RAJENDRA MOGRE

DEPARTMENT OF
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
GURU NANAK DEV ENGINEERING COLLEGE BIDAR, KARNATAKA
 VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY
BELAGAVI, KARNATAKA
GURU NANAK DEV ENGINEERING COLLEGE BIDAR, KARNATAKA

DEPARTMENT OF
MECHANICAL ENGINEERING
CERTIFICATE

This is certified that the Seminar on topic “TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS” a bonafide work
carried out by PREMKUMAR (3GN17ME055) in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of
the Degree BACHELOR OF ENGINEERING in MECHANICAL ENGINEERING by
VISVESVARAYA TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, BELGAVI during the year 2020-2021. The
seminar report satisfied the academic requirements in respect of seminar prescribed for the BACHELOR
OF ENGINEERING DEGREE.

Sign. of Guide Sign. of Coordinator Sign. of HOD

Prof. Rajendra Mogre Prof. Rajendra Mogre Prof. K K Prasad

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I would like to express my deep gratitude to our principal Dr. RAVINDRA EKLARKER of Guru
Nanak Dev Engineering College, Bidar for his inspiration and support by providing good facilities to
complete the Seminar.

My sincere thanks to Prof. K K PRASAD HOD of Electronics and Communication for his whole
hearted support in completion of this seminar.

I am also thankful to the seminar Coordinator Prof. RAJENDRA MOGRE for their support and
advise throughout the course of development of the seminar.

I am indebted to my seminar guide Prof. RAJENDRA MOGRE for guiding and giving timely advices
and suggestions in the successful completion of the seminar.

I thank to all the staff members for their support to completion of my seminar, finally I express my
gratefulness to all those who knowingly or unknowingly helped me in the successful completion of this
seminar.

PREMKUMAR

(3GN17ME055)
 ABSTRACT

Energy is essential for the economic development and growth of any society. Depletion of
conventional sources and growing demands of rapid urbanization and industrialization are met through
effective alternate sources like solar, wind and tidal energy. Solar energy is the most prolific method of
energy capture in nature through a photovoltaic (PV) packaged module. In the recent past, for commercial and
residential applications, BIPV - Building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV) are developed. Transparent solar
cells are integrated with the existing window panes by absorbing and utilizing unwanted light energy through
windows in buildings and automobiles. Such an efficient use of architectural space can prove to be economic
for operation and maintenance but calls for installation cost. These cells allow every visible photon to pass
through it and absorb all the photons in the infrared and ultraviolet range but are transparent to visible light.
Anti-reflective coatings on the outside surface can further increase the efficiency by reducing reflections. A
transparent solar panel is essentially a counterintuitive idea because solar cells must absorb
sunlight (photons) and convert them into power (electrons). When a solar glass is transparent,
the sunlight will pass through the medium and defeat the purpose of utilizing sunlight.

With the rapid growth of development and the drive to expand the economy, society
demands more electricity. Coupled with the realisation that unsustainable en- ergy production can have a
detrimental effect on our environment. Solar energy is the most prolific method of energy capture in
nature. The economic drive to make solar cells more cost effective and efficient has driven developments
in many different deposition technologies, including dipping, plating, thick film deposition and thin film
deposition. Typically, in order for solar energy to work efficiently and supply energy to a building, a
very large amount of space is required, in the form of rooftops or land, in order to install solar panels;
these solar panel space requirements are a large impediment to practical usage. This drawback drove
researchers to come up with transparent solar panels (TSPs), which solves the problem by turning any
sheet of glass into a photovoltaic solar cell. These cells provide power by absorbing and utilising
unwanted light energy through windows in buildings and automobiles, which leads to an efficient use of
architectural space. There are approximately nine transparent photovoltaic (TPV) technologies under
development, and studies regarding these technologies aim to achieve high transparency along with
electrical performance that is compatible with solar panels that are sold in the market. The main
objective of this review paper is to state all the latest reported technologies from the year 2007 onwards
on transparent photovoltaic technologies with at least 20% average transmission. This in- cludes
demonstrating the process used in each technology (including the materials and the methods) and ex-
plaining its advantages and disadvantages from a performance, aesthetic and financial perspective.
Therefore, this study provides a crucial review on the latest developments in the field of transparent
solar panels.
 CONTENTS

SL NO TITLE PAGE NO

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
1.1 WHAT IS TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS 01
1.2 BACKGROUND ON SOLAR CELL TECHNOLOGIES 04

CHAPTER 2 MATERIALS FOR MAKING PANELS

2.1 PHOTO-VOLTAIC GLASS 06
2.2 SOLAR GLASS 08
2.3 STRENGTH OF SOLAR GLASS 09
2.4 DURABILITY OF SOLAR GLASS 10

CHAPTER 3 TYPES OF TRANSPARENT SOLAR CELLS

3.1 THIN FILM PHOTOVOLTAICS (TPVs) 12
3.2 NEAR INFRARED TRANSPARENT SOLAR CELL 13
3.3 PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELL 14
3.4 QUANTUM DOT (QD) SOLAR CELL 15

CHAPTER 4 ENERGY SOURCE

4.1 ENERGY SCENERIO 16
4.2 SOLAR ENERGY OPTIONS 17

CHAPTER 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS 18

CHAPTER 6 ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES and APPLICATIONS

6.1 ADVANTAGES 19
6.2 DISADVANTAGES 19
6.3 APPLICATIONS 20

CHAPTER 7 CONCLUSION 21

REFERENCES 22
 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

1.1 WHAT IS TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANEL ?

A transparent solar panel provides an efficiency of 2% which is very less than a conventional solar cell which
provides about 15-18%. But this problem can be tackled by “stacking” wherein large number of transparent
solar cells can be put together which results in increasing the efficiency of solar cells. A photovoltaic cell is a
device that converts sunlight into electricity using semiconductor materials. Semiconductor materials enable
electron flow when photons from sunlight are absorbed and eject electrons, leaving a hole that is filled by
surrounding electrons. This phenomenon of electron flow by photon absorption is called the photovoltaic
effect. The PV's cell directs the electrons in one direction, which forms a curren, the amount of current is
pro- portional to the number of absorbed photons, which means that PV solar cells are a variable current
source. There are approXimately 24 models of solar cell technologies that are made from different types
of materials and methods. This review paper is primarily interested in transparent solar cells. However, in
order to understand the concept of transparent solar cells, it is important to explain the evolution of solar
cells starting from the silicon type.

In recent years floodgates for research have been focusing for renewable energy where solar energy
has been abundant that can satisfy society’s demands from household to industrial purpose. Solar panels are
devices that convert sun light into electricity. Solar panels also constitute of photovoltaic cells which absorb
light energy through photovoltaic effect. Some scientists call them photovoltaics which means, basically,
"light-electricity." Scientist have though for inventing solar panels which can replace every glass material
used till date. This thought brought a remarking change in technology with which every mobile phone or a
building can become an energy source. A transparent solar panel works in a conventional way but allows all
the visible light to pass through it and absorbs the infrared and ultraviolet light.

The challenges that we face for stacking of photovoltaic cells are cost, efficiency, and
operating lifetime. Researchers are now focusing on finding materials that will overcome these challenges.
Silicon was the first material that exhibited good efficiency. It is used in mono-crystalline PV cells, which
are at least 6% more efficient but also more expensive than polycrystalline PV cells.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

Fig. 1: (a): Transparent solar panel

However, due to the high cost of silicon, the market requires new materials and processes that
can give an equivalent efficiency, while at the same time reducing costs. Therefore, researchers came up
with thin film PV cells. Thin films reduce the amount of semiconductor material used to manufacture
amorphous solar cells, which reduce the cost by more than half. In addition, there is the third-generation
solar cell, which includes concentrators and organic solar cells such as dye- sensitised solar cells. Most solar
cell applications are terrestrial. One of the main challenges that most of these applications face is the surface
area needed to produce enough electricity in the solar panel, the larger the surface area is, the more sunlight
a PV can harness. Hence, the idea of transparent photovoltaic cells came to solve this challenge of
effectively utilising space. However, before going through transparent solar cell technologies, it is essential
to understand the concept of the solar cell and dye- sensitised solar cells, because they are 2 main structures
used to build most PV models. See-through solar materials that can be applied to windows represent a
massive source of untapped energy and could harvest as much power as bigger, bulkier rooftop solar units,
scientists report today in Nature Energy. Moving global energy consumption away from fossil fuels will
require such innovative and cost- effective renewable energy technologies. Only about 1.5 percent of
electricity demand in the United States and globally is produced by solar power. Highly transparent solar

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

applications are recording efficiencies above 5 percent, while traditional solar panels typically are about 15
percent to 18 percent efficient. Although transparent solar technologies will never be more efficient at
converting solar energy to electricity than their opaque counterparts, they can get close and offer the
potential to be applied to a lot more additional surface area. Traditional solar cells are built in cell modules
and set on a rooftop of a building for family daily life uses. However, dust, leaves and water pudding can
shade PV panels hence, significantly reducing the solar energy output.

Fig. 1: (b) Cross-section of a transparent solar cell

Recently, semi-transparent plastic solar cells were developed as building materials which are called
the building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). Konarka has developed a transparent solar cell, which can be
potentially built onto electricity-generating windows. Prototypes of windows were composed of solar cell
between two panes of glass. With the transparent feature, the BIPV will no longer need to be confined to
overhead applications. Although they can be integrated into windows, still some current-collecting grids can
be clearly seen through the plastic solar cells. A semi-transparent plastic solar cell can be one-step fabricated
by an electronic glue-based lamination process combined with interface modification. The concept is to stack
two or more devices with different spectral responses which enable more efficient utilisation of solar energy.
The device is semi-transparent, flexible and self-encapsulated. However, due to the organic nature of these
solar cells, they are not as efficient and stable as silicon solar cell. A dye-based organic solar concentrator was
also developed recently that can be integrated into building

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

materials. A thin film of dye molecules deposited on glass absorb sunlight, the light is trapped and
transported within the glass by total internal reflection until it is captured by solar cells mounted on the
edges of the glass.

1.2 BACKGROUND ON SOLAR CELL TECHNOLOGIES :

The challenges that face photovoltaic cells are cost, efficiency, and operating lifetime. Researchers are now
focusing on finding mate- rials that will overcome these challenges. Silicon was the first material that
exhibited good efficiency. It is used in monocrystalline PV cells, which are at least 6% more efficient but
also more expensive than polycrystalline PV cells. Monocrystalline cells are more elec- trically efficient, as
they have a perfect crystal structure, whereas polycrystalline cells have a less perfect molecular structure
that impedes electron flow but are slightly cheaper to make. However, due to the high cost of silicon, the
market requires new materials and pro- cesses that can give an equivalent efficiency, while at the same time
reducing costs. Therefore, researchers came up with thin film PV cells (TFPV). Thin films reduce the amount
of semiconductor material used to manufacture amorphous solar cells, which reduce the cost by more than
half. In addition, there is the third-generation solar cell, which includes concentrators and organic solar cells
such as dyesensitized solar cells (DSSC). Most solar cell applications are terrestrial. One of the main
challenges that most of these applications face is the surface area needed to produce enough electricity in the
solar panel; the larger the surface area is, the more sun- light a PV can harness. Hence, the idea of
transparent photovoltaic (TPV) cells came to solve this challenge of effectively utilising space. This
review focuses on technologies related to TPV and their merits. However, before going through transparent
solar cell (TSC) technolo- gies, it is essential to understand the concept of the solar cell and dyesensitized
solar cells (DSSC).

The broad categories of possible large scale applications of solar power are the heating and cooling of
residential and commercial buildings.

A. The chemical and Biological conversion of organic material to liquid solid and gaseous fuels.
B. Conversion of solar energy to Electricity.

The solar cell receives the solar energy. The solar cells operate on the principle of
photovoltaic effect, by using solar cells. Basically the cells are placed in an open and fixed manner. Drastic
changes in energy conversion system are anticipated due to shortage of conventional fuels. Fuel deposit in
the world will soon deplete by the end of 2020. Fossil fuel scarcity will be maximum. The main reasons for
the above are due to increasing demand for electricity, rising population, rapid advance in technology.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

It is worth while to mention here that indiscriminate use of commercial energy has lead to serious
environment problems like air and water pollutions. Man, when he is embarking on use of alternate sources
of energy should bear in mind, his environment. The creation of new source of perennial environmentally
acceptable, low cost electrical energy as a replacement for energy from rapidly depleting resources of fossil
fuels is the fundamental need for the survival of mankind.
Solar Energy can be a major source of power. Its potential is 178 billion MW which is about 20,000
times the worlds demand. The energy radiated by the sun on a bright sunny day is approximately 1kw/m2.
The problem associated with the use of solar energy is that its availability varies widely with time. The
variations in availability occur daily, because of the day-night cycle and also seasonally because of Earth‟s
orbit around the sun. In addition variations occur at a specific location because of local weather conditions.
Consequently the energy collected with the sun is shining must be stored for use during periods when it is
not available. Solar energy has the greatest potential of all the sources of renewable energy and it will be one
of the most important source of energy especially when other sources in the country have depleted. Solar
energy could supply all the present and future energy needs of the world on a connecting basis. This makes
it one of the most promising of the nonconventional energy sources.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

CHAPTER 2

MATERIALS FOR MAKING PANELS

2.1 PHOTO-VOLTAIC GLASS :

Photovoltaic glass (PV glass) is a technology that enables the conversion of light into electricity.To do so,
the glass incorporates transparent semiconductor-based photovoltaic cells, which are also known as solar
cells. The cells are sandwiched between two sheets of glass. Photovoltaic glass is not perfectly transparent
but allows some of the available light through it. Buildings using a substantial amount of photovoltaic glass
could produce some of their own electricity through the windows.

Fig. 1(c): Transmission of light energy into electricalenergy

The PV power generated is considered green or clean electricity because its source is renewable, and it
does not cause pollution. In addition to energy cost savings, potential benefits from the use of photovoltaic
glass include reducing the carbon footprint of facilities, contributing to sustainability and consequently,
enhancing branding and public relations (PR) efforts. In environments where too much heat gets in with
light, the reduced transparency can also save on air-conditioning costs. Variations have been designed for
environments where more light is desired. For example, Sharp has developed a slitted solar glass product
that has gaps between solar cells to enable greater light penetration. Another company, Onyx Solar, makes

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

photovoltaic glass with a variety of options including different colours, gradient and patterns as well as
double or triple-glazed products. Variance in photovoltaic efficiency and light penetration among these
products enables multiple options for architectural design.

Photovoltaic systems have long been used in specialized applications as stand-alone

installations and grid-connected PV systems have been in use since the 1990s.Photovoltaic modules were
first mass-produced in 2000, when German environmentalists and the Eurosolar organization received
government funding for a ten thousand roof program. Advances in technology and increased manufacturing
scale have in any case reduced the cost, [5] increased the reliability, and increased the efficiency of
photovoltaic installations.[3][6] Net metering and financial incentives, such as preferential feed-in tariffs for
solar-generated electricity, have supported solar PV installations in many countries. [7] More than 100
countries now use solar PV. Overall the manufacturing process of creating solar photovoltaics is simple in
that it does not require the culmination of many complex or moving parts. Because of the solid state nature
of PV systems they often have relatively long lifetimes, anywhere from 10 to 30 years. To increase electrical
output of a PV system, the manufacturer must simply add more photovoltaic components and because of
this economies of scale are important for manufacturers as costs decrease with increasing output. Crystalline
silicon photovoltaics are only one type of PV, and while they represent the majority of solar cells produced
currently there are many new and promising technologies that have the potential to be scaled up to meet
future energy needs.

As of 2018, crystalline silicon cell technology serves as the basis for several PV module
types, including monocrystalline, multicrystalline, mono PERC, and bifacial. Crystalline silicon
photovoltaics are only one type of PV, and while they represent the majority of solar cells produced
currently there are many new and promising technologies that have the potential to be scaled up to meet
future energy needs. As of 2018, crystalline silicon cell technology serves as the basis for several PV
module types, including monocrystalline, multicrystalline, mono PERC, and bifacial. Quantum dot solar
cells are solution processed, meaning they are potentially scalable, but currently they peak at 12%
efficiency.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

2.2 SOLAR GLASS :

For the substrate of a thin film panel often standard glass is used, simply because it’s cheap. The
superstrate cover glass has higher requirements. The cover glass needs to offer low reflection, high
transmissivity and high strength. Typically, a 3.2mm thick piece of solar glass is used. The solar glass has
a rough surface. This is needed, because during the lamination process, EVA needs to adhere to the glass.
Completely smooth glass wouldn’t adhere well and would lead to de-lamination. The type of solar glass
directly influences the amount of solar radiation that is being transmitted. To ensure high solar
energy transmittance, glass with low iron oxide is typically used in solar panel manufacturing. Drastic
changes in energy conversion system are anticipated due to shortage of conventional fuels. Fuel deposit
in the world will soon deplete by the end of 2020. Fossil fuel scarcity will be maximum. The main
reasons for the above are due to increasing demand for electricity, rising population, rapid advance in
technology.

Fig. 2(a): Glass structure of solar panel

It is worth while to mention here that indiscriminate use of commercial energy has lead to serious
environment problems like air and water pollutions. Man, when he is embarking on use of alternate sources of
energy should bear in mind, his environment. The creation of new source of perennial environmentally
acceptable, low cost electrical energy as a replacement for energy from rapidly depleting resources of fossil
fuels is the fundamental need for the survival of mankind. The main difference between solar glass
technologies and traditional solar photovoltaics (PV) is that the newer panels are built into the structure rather
than being added on top, which provides an incentive for users concerned about balancing aesthetics and
functionality.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

Spurred on by the commitments of multiple countries to achieve their net-zero

emission targets and the march of technological advancement, solar glass capacity is growing. China is
leading the way, with over 11,000 solar glass-related enterprises in the country and a solar glass capacity of
25,360 t/d at the end of 2019. Currently there are two types of solar glass, the first ones are thin-film modules
that have been around for a while and come orange in colour, as they are made of amorphous silicone, which
makes them only up to 20% transparent. The second type is PV glass, which appears black and can be up to
50% transparent can be used in balconies, skylights, or in facades, alternated with standard windows. A third
type of solar glass technology made of organic polymer PV is being developed by companies such as
England-based cleantech Polysolar and promises to operate in as little as 10% sunlight, depending on the
angle of positioning.

2.3 STRENGTH OF SOLAR GLASS :

Solar panels are made of tempered glass, which is sometimes called toughened glass. There
are specific properties that make tempered glass suitable for the manufacturing of solar panels. First of all
tempered glass is much stronger than other types of glass. Secondly, tempered glass is considered safety
glass. In case it breaks, it will shatter in thousands of small pieces, that won’t be harmful. Both the strength
and safety is important for the installation of solar panels.

Glass has great inherent strength. However, as it can not not reduce localised stresses, it is subject to rapid
brittle fracture. There are a number of measures for mechanical strength depending on the direction of the
applied force. For the purpose of solar modules, the most significant measure is the tensile strength, a
measure of pressure expressed in Pa (Pascal).

Type Mechanical Strength

Annealed Glass 45 MPa

Toughened 70 MPa

Tempered 120 MPa

Fig. 2(b): Mechanical strength of solar glass

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

Solar panels are made of tempered glass, which is sometimes called toughened glass. There are specific
properties that make tempered glass suitable for the manufacturing of solar panels. First of all tempered glass
is much stronger than other types of glass. Secondly, tempered glass is considered safety glass. In case it
breaks, it will shatter in thousands of small pieces, that won't be harmful. Both the strength and safety is
important for the installation of solar panels.

The objectives for solar glass are:

 Ultra-bright glass needed with high solar transmission to ensure high efficiencies in the overall pv
module.
 Mechanical strength to withstand snow and wind.
 Depending on application, glass may need to be laminated and coated
 Self-cleaning characteristics would help to reduce maintenance costs.

2.4 DURABILITY OF SOLAR GLASS:

Solar panel glass, as the front sheet of a solar PV panel, needs to provide long term protection against the
natural elements. So, for the protection of PV panels tempered glass are used which are four times stronger
than standard plate glass. Every pivotal piece of solar panel must be designed and installed in order to
withstand extreme temperatures to dirt and water particles while guaranteeing a minimum of 25 years of power
production. The TLSC is composed of organic salts that are designed to absorb specific invisible
UV and infrared light wavelengths, which then glow (luminesce) as another invisible
wavelength. This new wavelength is then guided to the edge of the window plastic, which thin
PV solar cell strips convert it into electricity. Once the mass production begins for transparent
solar panels, researchers estimate that the TLSC should be able to deliver an e ciency of about
10%. This may not appear to be an earth-shattering number, but on a national or global scale,
when almost every window in a home or o ce building consists of clear solar panels, the results
can be transformative.

This is most often found in cheaper brands of monocrystalline and polycrystalline panels made by
small, relatively unknown companies. However it can also be found in well known brands in amorphous (thin
film) solar panels that have a glass plate component. Cheap solar panel glass can cloud over time. Clouded
glass greatly reduces solar panel efficiency. Broken glass, aside from being a general safety issue and even
if the glass only cracks, can allow water to penetrate and create a fire hazard. Water and electricity simply do
not mix. Tempered glass, also known as safety glass or toughened glass, is up to six times the strength of
normal plate glass. Its manufacture is by thermal or chemical means. We’ve witnessed panels using tempered
glass flip over onto rock strewn ground with some force without breaking. This is something we obviously do

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

not recommend trying out, but it goes to show how strong the material is. When tempered glass does break, it
shatters into small pieces rather than creating long and razor sharp shards.
Most amorphous panels can only use flat plate glass due to their method of construction. Amorphous panels’
usual creation involves applying special silicon rich gas called silane at high temperatures directly to the back
of a glass plate or to a steel plate. Some manufacturers get around the comparative weakness by using thicker
flat plate glass. However, this is still not as strong as using white tempered glass.

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CHAPTER 3

TYPES OF TRANSPARENT SOLAR CELLS

There are approximately seven technologies that apply for the fabrication of transparent solar cells. The best
transparency achieved through this technology is less than 80%.

3.1 THIN FILM PHOTOVOLTAICS (TPVs) :

TPVs are the most prolific technology and is obtained via different methods. TPV is basically a thin film
that has a thickness ranging from a few nanometers to tens of micrometers of active material deposited on
glass in different ways. Thin film photovoltaics reduces the cost of solar cells by conserving the materials
used in fabricating the cell; it is easy to deposit thin films on many different substrates, from rigid to
flexible and from insulators to metals, which allows for new application. By reducing the thickness of the
film, the transparency increases in some materials, such as titanium dioxide. Screen printing is the
preferred method for depositing thin films and is widely used in thin film applications. Transparency is
controlled by screen printing through a screen made from a mesh stretched over a frame, and its properties
control the thickness and porosity of the film.

Fig. 3(a): Cross-section of thin film photovoltaics

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Transparency is also controlled by the pressure and speed applied on the squeegee. Transparency can
also be controlled by engineering the particle size, film thickness, structure of semiconductor oxide
material and dye colour, which can contain different colours to absorb more light at different wavelengths.
Perovskites are abundant organic materials that have good electric properties suitable for solar cells, such
as a high absorption coefficient, high carrier mobility, direct band gap and high stability. Most perovskite
materials can achieve a power consumption efficiency of over 13%, which makes perovskite a good
alternative. The semitransparent perovskite solar cell achieved a peak transmission of 77% for
approximately 800nm and an efficiency of 12.7%.

3.2 NEAR INFRARED TRANSPARENT SOLAR CELL :

As we know the main function of solar cell is to absorb photonics energy, while the main characteristics
of transparency is to let photons pass through, which makes it hard to encompass both features in one
material. Most of the researchers are directed towards making thin layers to achieve some amount of
transparency and focus on absorbing the visible spectrum; this results in producing cells with an average
transparency of less than 30% in order to maintain reasonable efficiency. So, researchers took a different
direction by changing the molecules of the dye in order to absorb ultraviolet and near infrared wavelengths,
instead of focusing on active layers thickness to achieve a transparent solar cell. To obtain an ideal
photovoltaic cell the absorbing material must harness all the light in the ultra violet (UV) and near
infrared (NIR) regions and allow the visible light to pass through. There are some materials with these
properties such as carbon nanotubes and graphene, which are transparent conducting materials. It is
inefficient to only use thesematerials to build a transparent photovoltaic. Thus, it is suggested to combine a
transparent polymer solar cell with a transparent conducting material, such as silver nanowire combined
with a transparent polymeric photovoltaic cell, which is non-transparent for UV and NIR light but
transparent to visible light. A study reported an efficiency of 7.56% and an average transmission of 25%. In
another studyan alternative way was presented which used a PTB7: PC71BM polymer as well and reported
a 30% transmittance and 5.6% efficiency. UV and NIR light, convert them into visible light and guide it to
the edge of the glass where the solar cell is placed. TLSC is developed from luminophore blends of canine
and cyanine salts and has synthesized cyanine salt- host blends with quantum yield. The transparency
exhibited by TLSC is 86% and the efficiency is 0.4%.

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 TRANSPARENT SOLAR PANELS

3.3 PEROVSKITE SOLAR CELL :

Researchers focus on improving the semi-transparent nature of organic solar cells by utilising the
absorbing material that has a lower band gap than the photons. By improving the transparency efficiency is
affected. To led to find a transparent material that improves the efficiency of the cell, such as methyl
ammonium lead halide perovskite. Most of the highly efficient perovskite solar cells are made out of a
sandwich of a metal oxide material such as titanium dioxide and organic transport materials. Perovskites
are abundant organic materials that have good electric properties suitable for solar cells, such as a high
absorption coefficient, high carrier mobility, direct band gap and high stability. Most perovskite materials
can achieve a power consumption efficiency of over 13%, which makes perovskite a good alternative. The
semitransparent perovskite solar cell achieved a peak transmission of 77% for approximately 800nm and
an efficiency of 12.7%. TLSC is based on organic salts and these take a totally different direction to realize
a solar cell design with a different structure, which combines efficiency with transparency. NIR fluorescent
transparent dyes are used in order to capture UV and NIR light, convert them into visible light and guide it
to the edge of the glass where the solar cell is placed. TLSC is developed from luminophore blends of
canine and cyanine salts and has synthesized cyanine salt- host blends with quantum yield.

Fig. 3(b): Cross-section of perovskite solar cell

Electrophoretic deposition is another method for obtaining thin films. This method can be applied in two
steps to deposit a thin film on fluorine doped tin oxide glass. Firstly, particles are deposited on glassy applying
voltage across two electrodes, which creates an electric field. One of the electrodes acts as cathode and the
other acts as anode, and they are immersed in a solvent that contains the particles. In the second step, the
synthesized particles will gather and deposit on one of the electrodes, forming a thin layer of titanium
dioxide. According to a study EPD electrodes shows average transmittance of 55% and an efficiency of
7.1%.

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3.4 QUANTUM DOT (QD) SOLAR CELL :

Quantum dots have recently gathered attention due to their outstanding opto-electronic property. By
carefully cutting QD’s in different sizes, their absorption spectrum changes, which makes them suitable for
solar cell application. Some heterojunction lead sulphide QD solar cells were reported to have a 9% power
consumption efficiency. Additionally, lead sulphide QD has an interesting property of multi excitation
generation, in which one photon excites more than one hole-electron pair. In addition, lead sulphide QD has
a transparent property that can be used in semi-transparent heterojunction solar cells. By changing the
thickness of the QD’s, the power conversion efficiency varies from 2.04% to 3.88%, and the transmission
ranges from 32.1% to 22.7%.

Fig. 2(e): Cross-section of quantum-dot solar cell

Electrophoretic deposition is another method for obtaining thin films. This method can be applied in two
steps to deposit a thin film on fluorine doped tin oxide glass. Firstly, particles are deposited on glassy
applying voltage across two electrodes, which creates an electric field. By reducing the thickness of the film,
the transparency increases in some materials, such as titanium dioxide. Screen printing is the preferred
method for depositing thin films and is widely used in thin film applications. Transparency is controlled by
screen printing through a screen made from a mesh stretched over a frame, and its properties control the
thickness and porosity of the film. Transparency is also controlled by the pressure and speed applied on the
squeegee. Transparency can also be controlled by engineering the particle size, film thickness, structure of
semiconductor oxide material and dye colour, which can contain different colours to absorb more light at
different wavelengths.

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CHAPTER 4

ENERGY SOURCE

4.1 ENERGY SCENERIO :

Drastic changes in energy conversion system are anticipated due to shortage of conventional fuels. Fuel
deposit in the world will soon deplete by the end of 2020. Fossil fuel scarcity will be maximum. The main
reasons for the above are due to increasing demand for electricity, rising population, rapid advance in
technology. It is worth while to mention here that indiscriminate use of commercial energy has lead to serious
environment problems like air and water pollutions. Man, when he is embarking on use of alternate sources of
energy should bear in mind, his environment. The creation of new source of perennial environmentally
acceptable, low cost electrical energy as a replacement for energy from rapidly depleting resources of fossil
fuels is the fundamental need for the survival of mankind.

In August 2016, the forecast for solar photovoltaic installations was about 4.8 GW for the calendar year.
About 2.8 GW was installed in the first eight months of 2016, more than all 2015 solar installations. India's
solar projects stood at about 21 GW, with about 14 GW under construction and about 7 GW to be
auctioned. The country's solar capacity reached 19.7 GW by the end of 2017, making it the third-largest global
solar market.In mid-2018 the Indian power minister RK Singh flagged a tender for a 100GW solar plant at an
event in Delhi, while discussing a 10GW tender due to be issued in July that year (at the time, a world record).
He also increased the government target for installed renewable energy by 2022 to 227GW

The installed capacity of commercial solar thermal power plants (non storage type) in India is 227.5 MW with
50 MW in Andhra Pradesh and 177.5 MW in Rajasthan. The existing solar thermal power plants (non-storage
type) in India, which are generating costly intermittent power on a daily basis, can be converted into storage
type solar thermal plants to generate 3 to 4 times more base load power at cheaper cost and not depend on
government subsidies. In March 2020, SECI called for 5000 MW tenders which can be combination of solar
PV with battery storage, solar thermal with thermal energy storage (including biomass firing as supplementary
fuel) and coal based power (minimum 51% from renewable sources) to supply round the clock power at
minimum 80% yearly availability. During the daytime, the additional auxiliary power consumption of a solar
thermal storage power plant is nearly 10% of its rated capacity for the process of extracting solar energy in the
form of thermal energy. This auxiliary power requirement can be made available from cheaper solar PV plant
by envisaging hybrid solar plant with a mix of solar thermal and solar PV plants at a site. Also to optimise the
cost of power, generation can be from the cheaper solar PV plant (33% generation) during the daylight
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whereas the rest of the time in a day is from the solar thermal storage plant (67% generation from Solar power
tower and parabolic trough types) for meeting 24 hours baseload power.

4.2 SOLAR ENERGY OPTIONS :

Solar energy has the greatest potential of all the sources of renewable energy and it will be one of the most
important source of energy especially when other sources in the country have depleted. Solar energy could
supply all the present and future energy needs of the world on a connecting basis. This makes it one of the
most promising of the nonconventional energy sources.

Solar Energy can be a major source of power. Its potential is 178 billion MW which is about 20,000 times
the worlds demand. The energy radiated by the sun on a bright sunny day is approximately 1kw/m2. The
problem associated with the use of solar energy is that its availability varies widely with time. The variations
in availability occur daily, because of the day-night cycle and also seasonally because of Earth‟s orbit
around the sun. In addition variations occur at a specific location because of local weather conditions.
Consequently the energy collected with the sun is shining must be stored for use during periods when it is
not available.

Attempts have been made to make use of this energy in raising steam which may be used in driving the
prime movers for the purpose of generation of electrical energy. However due to large space requirement
and uncertainty of availability in constant rate this method becomes ineffective.

Photovoltaic cell is an alternate device used for power generation which converts suns radiation directly into
electrical power. Thus power generated can be stored and utilized.

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CHAPTER 5

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

As we get to know that by using transparent solar cells, there will be reduction in the usage of fossil fuels. By
replacing all the glassware with PV cells, the power consumption will be reduced by 40%. Once they are
installed, they can harness energy for a particular building for an average of 25 years. By using transparent
solar cells we are shifting from solar farms to solar cities which has a number of applications. Transparent
solar cells can replace the general glass ware i.e. windows, automobile glassware, cellphone glassware etc.
The potential to generate renewable, clean energy from the sun is enormous with transparent
solar panels, considering the number of skyscrapers and buildings already in existence or under
construction with a massive amount of glass surface
By using transparent solar panels, the huge equipment used for the conventional solar panels can be
reduced to the size of a window. Solar panel blinds are a supplement to transparent solar
glass/panels when using the window to generate electricity. Solar power panels are
designed to harvest sunlight to produce energy, while the essential function of window
blinds is to block direct sun’s rays from entering inside. Thermal mass systems can store solar
energy in the form of heat at domestically useful temperatures for daily or interseasonal durations.
Thermal storage systems generally use readily available materials with high specific heat capacities
such as water, earth and stone. Well-designed systems can lower peak demand, shift time-of-use to off-
peak hours and reduce overall heating and cooling requirements. The development of affordable,
inexhaustible, and clean solar energy technologies will have huge longer-term benefits. It will increase
countries' energy security through reliance on an indigenous, inexhaustible, and mostly import-
independent resource, enhance sustainability, reduce pollution, lower the costs of mitigating climate
change, and keep fossil fuel prices lower than otherwise. These advantages are global. Hence the
additional costs of the incentives for early deployment should be considered learning investments; they
must be wisely spent and need to be widely shared.
Though the installation cost for the setup is high, there are many advantages of transparent solar panels
because of their high surface area and it resembles regular glass and there will not be notable changes seen by
establishing transparent solar panels. Conventional solar panels require a large setup for the consumption of
sunlight and converting it into electricity. Even though the amount of electricity produced by the transparent
solar panels is less compared to the conventional solar panels, the high surface area of the transparent solar
panels increases the amount of electricity produced by the transparent solar panels.

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CHAPTER 6

ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES and APPLICATIONS

6.1 ADVANTAGES :

1) Solar cells directly convert the solar radiation into electricity using photovoltaic effect without
going through a thermal process.

2) Solar cells are reliable, modular, durable and generally maintenance free and therefore, suitableeven
in isolated and remote areas.

3) Solar cells are quiet, benign, and compatible with almost all environments, respond
instantaneously with solar radiation and have an expected life time of 20 or more years.

4) Solar cells can be located at the place of use and hence no distribution network is required.

5) The major benefit of solar avoiding green house gases that fossil fuels produce. The first and foremost
advantage of solar energy is that it does not emit any green house gases.

6.2 DISADVANTAGES :

1) The conversion efficiency of solar cells is limited to 10 percent. Large areas of solar cell modular are
required to generate sufficient useful power.

2) The present costs of solar cells are comparatively high, making them economically uncompetitive
with other conventional power generation methods for terrestrial applications, particularly where the
demand of power is very large.

3) Solar energy is intermittent and solar cells produce electricity when sun shines and in proportion to
solar intensity. Hence, some kind of electric storage is required making the whole system more costly.
However, in large installations, the electricity generated by solar cells can be fed directly into the electric
grid system.

4) The main hindrance to solar energy going widespread is the cost of installing solar panels. Capital
costs for installing a home solar system or building a solar farm are high.Particularly obstructive is the
fact that installing solar panels has large upfront costs – after which the energy trickles in for free.

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ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SOLAR POWER

Air Pollution
This can be caused by chemical reactants used in storage or organic fluids for heat transport. The release of
CO, SO2, SO3, hydrocarbon vapors and other toxic gases should be accounted, through their magnitude is not
high. The fire hazard associated with over heated organic working fluids exists. Human tissues when exposed
would be destroyed because of high energy flux densities.

Land Use

Solar plants require large land and the collection field produce shading not normally present over large
areas. This may cause disturbance in local ecosystem.

Noise and Thermal Effect

The thermal effects of solar plants are minimal. Actually these systems eliminate local thermal pollution
associated with fossil fuel combustion. Some reduction in local environmental heat budget or balance
will occur if electricity produced is exported elsewhere. Solar systems do not add any new noise to that
already existing in the present industrial or utility areas.

6.3 APPLICATIONS :

The applications of solar energy which are enjoying most success today are:
1) heating and cooling of residential buildings
2) Solar water heating
3) Solar drying of agriculture and animal products
4) Solar distillation on a small community scale
5) Salt production by evaporation of seawater or inland brines
6) Solar cookers
7) Solar engines for water pumping
8) Food refrigeration
9) Bio conversion and wind energy, which are indirect source of solar energy
10) Solar furnaces
11) Solar electric power generation

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CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION
The rate of usage of transparent solar panels is very less when compared to that of the conventional energy
sources. But, in Asian and African countries there is abundant availability of sunlight which can be trapped
and used as an alternative source of energy. As Asiatic countries are highly populated, maximum amount of
energy is used. So, by using transparent solar panels, energy consumption can be reduced by more than 40%
which, on global scale is a very huge amount. As the non-renewable energy sources are depleting, this
initiative will help us in conserving the energy and reduce global pollution which in turn reduces global
warming. The need for energy is growing. Therefore solar energy is a hot item the last few years. Solar
panels made of silicon are however still quite expensive. In Groningen researchers are working on the
development of a cheaper solar cell which can be made of plastic. The way to make semi-transparent solar
cells made of plastic which can function as a window at the same time. Moreover he developed a way to
increase the effectiveness of the plastic solar cells.

This technology can be a breakthrough in terms of generating electricity from renewable sources of energy
and can be a future of electricity generation.

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REFERENCES
[1]. Nancy W.Stauffer, Spring 2013 issue of Energy Futures, the magazine of the MIT Energy Initiative
[2]. Alaa A.F. Husain, Science Direct, Volume 94, pages 779- 791, October 2018
[3]. Xinyuan Xia, Journal of Materials Chemistry 20(39): 8478- 8482, September 2010
[4]. Jamie Lendino, Extreme Tech, April 2015
[5]. Alaa Husain, Pertanika Journal of Science and Technology 25(S)(2017):225-234, February 2017
[6]. Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft, Transparent Solar Cells, 2009
[7]. Effect of the Changeable Organic Semi-Transparent Solar Cell Window on Building Energy Efficiency
and User Comfort, SehyunTak, MDPI, June 2017
[8]. Spectral Response of Polycrystalline Silicon Photovoltaic Cells Under Real-Use Conditions,
EvaldoC.Gouvêa, MDPI, August 2017
[9]. Subhash Chander, International Journal of Renewable Energy Research 5(1):41-45, December 2014
[10]. K. Zwiebel, Technologies Critical Role in Energy and Environmental Markets, October 1998

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