Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a double - paned solar glass using quantum dot photovoltaic technology that could drive down the cost of solar electricity . Using a system known as " solar - spectrum glass " , the first pane of glass has a layer of highly emissive quantum dots that are doped with manganese , which absorb blue and ultraviolet light , while the second pane includes a silicon - indium - selenide layer , which absorbs the light photons . The light photons are guided by internal reflection on to solar cells built into the window frame , with almost no loss of energy due to self - absorption .
Researchers at the Los Alamos National Laboratory have developed a double-paned solar glass using quantum dot photovoltaic technology that could bring down the cost of solar electricity. Using a system known as "solar-spectrum splitting", the first pane of glass has a layer of highly emissive quantum dots that are doped with manganese, which absorb blue and ultraviolet light, while the second pane includes a copper-indium-selenide layer, which absorbs the remaining photons. The light photons are guided by internal reflection on to solar cells incorporated into the window frame, with almost no loss of energy due to self-absorption.