"We are excited by this new invention on transparent solar cells, which applied our recent advances in transparent conducting windows (also published in ACS Nano) to fabricate these devices, " said Paul S.Weiss, CNSI director and Fred Kavli Chair in NanoSystems Sciences.

ENGADGET: UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows

"These results open the potential for visibly transparent polymer solar cells as add-on components of portable electronics, smart windows and building-integrated photovoltaics and in other applications, " said study leader Yang Yang, a UCLA professor of materials science and engineering, who also is director of the Nano Renewable Energy Center at California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI).

ENGADGET: UCLA creates transparent solar cell, dreams of current generating windows