SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. First-Ever: Electricity-Generating Flexible Glass Using High-Speed Manufacturing Process
November 23, 2020 at 08:30 am
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SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. announced that for the first time ever, the company has successfully produced its electricity-generating flexible glass using roll-to-roll processing, a high-speed method typical to commercial manufacturing of tinted window films, digital displays, printed electronics, and semiconductors. As thin as a business card, flexible sheets of SolarWindowTM electricity-generating glass generate power from sunlight and indoor artificial light, and are under development to electrify windows and otherwise passive surfaces on commercial buildings, automotive, aerospace, marine and other products. The SolarWindow breakthrough announced was made possible when multiple layers of the Company’s LiquidElectricity™ coatings were first applied onto ultra-thin flexible glass and then processed using precision lasers and a roll-to-roll system, in ongoing work underway at the U.S. Department of Energy’s, National Renewable Energy Labs in Golden, Colorado through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement. These highly technical advances include significant enhancements to managing materials processing through the roll-to-roll system when creating electricity-generating glass, specifically better travel and conveyance, accurate registration, greater edge position control, and improved precision during the process. Importantly, these controls are key to increased power and performance of SolarWindow™ electricity-generating glass, as well as higher process efficiency, reduced operating costs and lower materials costs through less waste. Furthermore, these precision controls allowed the Company to successfully apply its proprietary laser process to today’s electricity-generating flexible glass. Initially developed by the Company for plastics, this laser patterning system promises improved power output of SolarWindow™ electricity-generating glass while concurrently increasing production efficiencies and reducing costs. Rather than creating laser patterns in its SolarWindow products using individual lasers, the Company’s laser system enables a single laser beam to be split into multiple focused beams which are simultaneously applied to flexible materials during roll-to-roll manufacturing. The development of the innovative SolarWindow laser beam patterning technology was performed in collaboration with NREL through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement from the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Advanced Manufacturing Office with its Roll-to-Roll Advanced Materials Manufacturing Consortium, led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
SolarWindow Technologies, Inc. is engaged in developing transparent electricity-generating coatings and methods for their application to various materials, which is referred to as LiquidElectricity Coatings. The Companyâs LiquidElectricity Coatings generate electricity by harvesting light energy from natural sun, artificial light, and low, shaded, or reflected light conditions. It applies ultra-thin layers of LiquidElectricity coatings to rigid glass, and flexible glass and plastic surfaces where they transform otherwise ordinary surfaces into organic photovoltaic devices. LiquidElectricity is a framework which utilizes chemistry for different ultra-thin layers applied to a substrate. These layers include hole transport layers, active layers, electron transport layers, and conductive contact points for transmission of electricity. The applications of LiquidElectricity Coatings span across multiple industries, including architectural, automotive, and marine.