Luminescent Windows Generate Energy from Inside and Out

Engineers have suggested a colorful solution to next-generation energy collection: Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) in windows. The team designed and built foot-square “windows” that sandwich a conjugated polymer between two clear acrylic panels. The thin middle layer is designed to absorb light in a specific wavelength and guide it to panel edges lined with solar cells. Conjugated polymers are chemical compounds that can be tuned with specific chemical or physical properties for a variety of applications such as conductive films or sensors for biomedical devices.