Solar at the nanoscale with MIT
To create game-changing solar science at the highest level, sometimes you need to think small, very small. Which is precisely what we are doing at Covestro through our partnership with MIT – officially ranked among the world’s leading universities.
A major aspect of our work with MIT centers on the development of solar technology conducted at the nanoscale not at the more traditional micrometer scale. One example is our Anti-Reflective Coating for solar glass. It already delivers up to a 3% power boost to photovoltaic (PV) panels but now, our scientists working on-site at MIT are exploring the functionality of surfaces at the nano level, 1,000th the width of a human hair.
For our customers, this means the potential for high-performance c-Si (crystalline) PV modules containing completely novel nanomaterials that could – someday – deliver unprecedented cell efficiency by managing sunlight more effectively throughout the solar module.
Engineering at this scale also enables completely new solar technologies, based on materials like perovskite, that could literally be printed off and applied to solar modules – or integrated into everyday objects. Imagine, for example, if solar cells could be integrated into lampposts, collecting energy in the day, and then converting this into energy to light up the streets at night.
Thanks to our work with MIT, you might not need to imagine this for much longer.