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Solar power for smartphones and buildings -- Ubiquitous Energy
Ever wish you could charge your device by letting it sunbathe? An National Science Foundation- (NSF) funded company, Ubiquitous Energy, is developing transparent solar technology that could be used on smartphones and buildings.
Miles Barr, CEO of Ubiquitous Energy, says the small business has redesigned the solar cell to selectively harvest only non-visible light, capturing ultraviolet and infrared parts of the spectrum and letting visible light pass through. Ubiquitous Energy can get to transparencies between 50 and 90 percent, unlike technology available today, which is fully opaque or opaque to 50 percent.
Ubiquitous Energy is supported by NSF's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR)/Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program, a nearly $190 million program that awards research and development grants to small businesses and startups, transforming scientific discovery into products and services with commercial and societal impact. To learn more visit: http://ubiquitous.energy/.
Original air date: May 4, 2017
Credit: NSF
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