The new city is about to operate thanks to solar energy absorbed from the window

Researchers estimate that 12,000 windows at the World Trade Center in New York City can provide electricity to more than 350 apartments.

The development of solar transformation technology can turn batteries into semi-transparent forms. This project has been developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory since 2014. And so far, the team has made great strides.

This technology uses an extremely small semiconductor called quantum dots to both create transparency and "harvest" sunlight. Lead researcher Viktor Klimov explained that he and his team had poured the quantum dots and PVP plastic onto a piece of glass and thinned the mixture. Quantum dots will be able to be adjusted to choose to absorb certain wavelengths of light.

The team said that these quantum dots will last up to 14 years. Currently the energy conversion efficiency is 1.9%. However, this technology will continue to be developed to reach 6%.

The team with transparent solar panels used as windows.(Photo source: Los Alamos).

Technologies that turn sunlight into electricity are still ineffective. Solar panels have not been able to absorb all the energy of sunlight. In general, the best solar cells currently can only transfer 25% of the energy it receives into electricity. Why so? The fact that sunlight, like all other types of light, consists of a spectrum with different wavelengths, each with a different intensity. There are too weak wavelengths that cannot release electrons and some wavelengths are too strong for silicon.

Moreover, solar panels should be placed in extremely special positions . The angle of the solar panels needs to be calculated in order to get the maximum amount of sunlight and of course solar panels are only really useful if placed in a place with lots of sunlight.

Scientists are still studying to develop more efficient solar panels. Solar cells are thin films, produced from cadmium, much thinner than silicon cells and are better able to absorb solar energy. But right now, the ability to convert the collected energy into cadmium solar cell electricity is still quite poor. However, scientists want to study more about this type of solar cell because they are cheap and convenient.