Pilkington is partnering UK R&D on 2 separate projects to follow the progress of new solar materials that can be coated onto glass. In one project, funded partly by the UK government, Pilkington is working with Cambridge based PolySolar to develop a demonstrator made of a large pane of glass with spray-coated organic photovoltaics (OPVs), achieving good levels of transparency. This 2y project continues PolySolar's original investment in technology, which originated from Cambridge University's Cavendish Lab, along with technology from US Plextronics. The aim is to produce glass with an efficiency of 4%, meaning that a building envelope comprising the glass could then generate between 20-30% of its energy needs. The other area of R&D is with other UK universities, pooling their knowledge in dye-sensitized & other emerging solar cell technology for the PV market.
