Energy consumption of buildings is increasing at a rapid pace due to urbanization, while net-zero energy buildings offer a green and sustainable solution. However, limited rooftop availability on multi-story buildings poses a challenge for large-scale integration of photovoltaics. Conventional silicon solar panels block visible light making them unfeasible to cover all the surfaces of a building. Here, we demonstrate a novel dielectric grating based planar light concentrator. We integrate this functional device onto a window glass transmitting visible light while simultaneously guiding near infrared (NIR) portion of sunlight to edges of the glass window where it is converted to electricity by a photovoltaic cell. Gratings are designed to guide NIR region and realize polarization independent performance. Experimentally, we observe 0.72% optical guiding efficiency in the NIR region (700–1000 nm), transmitting majority of the visible portion for natural room lighting. Integrating solar cell at the window edge, we find an electrical conversion efficiency of about 0.65% of NIR light with a 25 mm 2 prototype. Major losses are coupling and guiding losses arising from non-uniformity in fabrication over a large area. Such a functional window combining energy generation, natural room lighting and heat load reduction could mitigate urban heat island effect in modern cities.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.
customersupport@researchsolutions.com
10624 S. Eastern Ave., Ste. A-614
Henderson, NV 89052, USA
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Copyright © 2024 scite LLC. All rights reserved.
Made with 💙 for researchers
Part of the Research Solutions Family.