Transparent Solar Cell Sticker Covers Being Developed For iPad

Sign up for daily news updates from CleanTechnica on email. Or follow us on Google News!

Ubiquitous Energy, a new startup company, is currently developing a transparent stick-on solar cell for use with the iPad and other tablets. The stick-on solar cell will be able to keep the iPad powered throughout the day. The company states that its technology will revolutionize the use of mobile devices, making them nearly independent from wall-charging.

20130228-152329.jpg

The solar cells are designed to only collect wavelengths “at the ultraviolet and infrared end of the spectrum,” allowing all visible light to pass through and leave a completely transparent screen.

“In contrast, most solar cells collect light in the visible portion of the light spectrum, making it impossible for them to be completely transparent. The solar cells are made from several organic layers that are placed, one layer at a time, on the glass screen of a tablet,” Miles Barr, president and chief technology officer of Ubiquitous Energy, explained to MIT Tech Review.


 
The company is currently still developing the technology. Release dates and pricing have yet to be announced. The current prototype has achieved about 2% efficiency, as well as a “visible transparency” of about 70%. But those numbers are expected to significantly improve before they are ready for release, according to Barr.

Source: Inhabitat
Image Credits: IPad3 via Wikimedia Commons


Have a tip for CleanTechnica? Want to advertise? Want to suggest a guest for our CleanTech Talk podcast? Contact us here.

Latest CleanTechnica TV Video


Advertisement
 
CleanTechnica uses affiliate links. See our policy here.

James Ayre

James Ayre's background is predominantly in geopolitics and history, but he has an obsessive interest in pretty much everything. After an early life spent in the Imperial Free City of Dortmund, James followed the river Ruhr to Cofbuokheim, where he attended the University of Astnide. And where he also briefly considered entering the coal mining business. He currently writes for a living, on a broad variety of subjects, ranging from science, to politics, to military history, to renewable energy.

James Ayre has 4830 posts and counting. See all posts by James Ayre