Study shows perovskite used in smart windows can convert sunlight into electricity

Researchers recently discovered that a form of perovskite could be used in smart windows to convert sunlight into electricity.

The material, the scientists found, works as a reversible photoactive semiconductor material that can switch between a transparent and a non-transparent state without degrading its electronic properties.

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory scientist Steven Hawks and colleagues from UC Berkeley, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Shanghai University, Purdue University, and Stockholm University conducted the research, which appears in Nature Materials.

“We were looking to examine a reversible photoactive material that has large color contrast between states, one with high transparency to ensure the greatest brightness, and the other with strong light absorption to produce sufficient electrical energy.” Hawks said

The researchers made the discovery while examining the phase transition of the material, an inorganic perovskite. When the material’s crystal structure changes, the material changes from transparent to non-transparent.

Previous research in the area of smart windows used materials that can not reversibly change between a transparent phase and a nontransparent phase without diminishing their electronic properties.