Quantum Dot Solar Tech Goes Commercial

• UbiQD has installed its solar windows with quantum dot technology as pilot deployments at 3 sites in the US
• The company used its technology to prepare double pane insulated glass units with local window manufacturer GlazTech Industries
• It is now planning additional window projects in New Mexico, Colorado and Washington State

UbiQD, Inc., an advanced materials company from the US, has started real-world tests of its electricity generating windows for 3 commercial building sites. The products feature dot-tinted glass luminescent solar concentrator technology using quantum dots.

UbiQD's quantum dots are made with 'everyday materials' copper, indium, sulphide (CIS) that turn light into electricity. The company says it has an exclusive license to these dots from both the MIT and Los Alamos National Lab.

The project sites are a Holiday Inn Express Hotel, the company's own headquarters in Los Alamos in New Mexico and a collaborative project at the US Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in Golden, Colorado.

Made with local window manufacturer GlazTech Industries, the double pane insulated glass units can be installed in most existing frame constructions, said UbiQD. Claiming its quantum dots to be stable, low-cost and non-toxic, the company focuses on enabling smart building facades, and solar windows.

Through these pilot installations, which the company believes to be some of the earliest and largest known luminescent concentrator window installations globally, UbiQD aims to validate the importance of parameters like window orientation, time of day, seasonality, temperature, as well as manufacturing and installation methods.

UbiQD is now aiming to deploy more of its quantum dot window technology in 2022 as it plans additional window projects in New Mexico, Colorado and Washington State.

In May 2020, Los Alamos National Laboratory claimed 9% to 10% power conversion efficiency for zinc-doped quantum dot solar cells (see Up To 10% Efficiency For Lead Free Quantum Dot Cells).

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