This Clear Coating 'Secretly' Turns Windows Into Solar Panels: 'Without Sacrificing Aesthetics'

This Clear Coating 'Secretly' Turns Windows Into Solar Panels: 'Without Sacrificing Aesthetics'

This Clear Coating 'Secretly' Turns Windows Into Solar Panels: 'Without Sacrificing Aesthetics' Global solar installations are up 64% in the first half of 2025. There’s no denying it: More and more of the world is running on solar power. And with that growth comes even more innovation. In a new study, led by a research team at Nanjing University, scientists have created a transparent solar coating that turns ordinary windows into solar panels. The researchers used a transparent, colorless, and one-directional solar concentrator that can easily and directly be applied to standard window glass. It’s made with a coating of  “cholesteric liquid crystal,” a substance that has a unique ability to reflect wavelengths of light.  The scientists use the coating to turn the window into a solar power concentrator. Photo courtesy of Scott Webb/Pexels Then, the coating redirects sunlight toward photovoltaic cells on the edge of the windows. “By engineering the structure of cholesteric liqu…