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Study Details Colorless Coating That Turns Windows Into Solar Concentrators

Researchers report polarization-selective liquid crystal films that steer sunlight to window edges for photovoltaic collection.

This semi-transparent solar concentrator uses liquid crystal films to reflect and guide circularly polarized sunlight, enabling colorless energy harvesting for next-generation green buildings.
image: ©anyaberkut | iStock

Overview

  • The Nanjing University team’s peer-reviewed paper in PhotoniX describes a colorless, unidirectional diffractive concentrator (CUSC) based on cholesteric liquid crystal multilayers.
  • The coating maintains visual quality with 64.2% average visible transmittance and a 91.3 color rendering index while selectively guiding circularly polarized light.
  • Lab tests showed a 1-inch prototype powering a 10 mW fan under sunlight, demonstrating edge collection from a transparent pane.
  • Modeling projects that a 2-meter window could reach about 50× concentration and cut required photovoltaic area by up to 75%.
  • The films are fabricated via photoalignment and polymerization for roll-to-roll scaling, showed durability under exposure, support high-efficiency cells such as gallium arsenide, and will be advanced with broader spectral efficiency and polarization control for uses from buildings to greenhouses and displays.