Researchers at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, Republic of Korea, and Sumsung SDI Co., Seoul, Republic of Korea, recently announced the development of a window that can be used to generate electric power. The building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) cells made by coating windows with Sol-Gel material have reached power efficiency of 11% in laboratory tests. Conventional solar panels have a power efficiency around 15%.
The development team hopes to have models ready for commercial use in four to five years. “Sustained efficiency of at least 10% and overall durability need to be reached,” says Bay Byeong-Soo, a professor at KAIST.