Corridor In The News

USF Opens Window on Solar Research

By Lindsay Peterson Published: September 17, 2010

TAMPA - University of South Florida researchers demonstrated a new kind of window on Thursday that uses light to generate electricity.

They are tiny, about 4 inches wide, built into what looked like a dollhouse, but when assistant physics professor Xiaomei Jiang lifted the blinds to let the sun shine on them, a set of little red lights blinked on.

She beamed as she lifted the blinds up and down and the red light went on and off.

Her windows are the result of about a year's worth of research funded by New Energy Technologies of Burtonsville, Md., and the Florida High Tech Corridor.

They have more work to do to make the solar panels more transparent, Jiang said.

The endeavor began with Jiang's development about two years ago of tiny solar cells made from an organic polymer. They are flexible enough to be sprayed on a surface.

Jiang and the researchers working with her also powered the rotors of a toy helicopter by shining light through a 4-inch panel of cells.

They've spent the past year working to expand the size of the solar cells, which initially were about one-quarter the size of a grain of rice, and to reproduce the panels without any visible metal so light can shine through them.

They have more work to do to make the solar panels more transparent, Jiang said.

"It's been constant 24/7 work."

But it has the potential to dramatically change how people power their homes, said New Energy CEO John Conklin. One day the spray could even be used to help power electric cars, he said.