MIT startup makes transparent solar panel that will allow your smartphone to power itself

Posted on Monday, February 25, 2013 by RICHARD HARRIS, Executive Editor

Wouldn't the perfect mobile phone be the one that never needs charging from an outside source - TRULY wireless? A new startup that was born out of MIT last year named 'Ubiquitous Energy', is hoping to make that happen with the announcement of a new transparent solar film that captures solar energy from the sun, but still allows 100% pass through of light - so it's like the solar film isn't even there!

Imagine walking around with the freedom of not carrying chargers or battery packs with you. The implications of such a technology are far and wide.

“Current photovoltaic technology extensively utilizes the ultraviolet-visible range, but not much in the infrared range,” says Shenqiang Ren, a professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas, who is unaffiliated with the company. “Under solar radiation, there is about 45 percent radiant energy from infrared [light].”

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