Integration of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cells with Glassblock

Abstract

The paper will show the first results of a research (included in a larger work about the Improvement of glassblocks performance in order to use them for the construction of sustainable translucent building envelops even in Mediterranean and Tropical Areas) aimed to the integration of glassblock with the DSC technology. Glassblock is a high-performance type of glass in the field of sustainable architectural claddings: the process of deposition of the cells on the single glassblock, their best position and the performance of this new kind of glassblock, DSC integrated, will be discussed in the paper in terms of transmittance, light transmission and aesthetical effects, together with the problems about the integration of those "modified" glassblocks in the buildings and their installation for building translucent PV panels that can be integrated, e.g., in the building envelope by considering all the formal, energetic and technological implications.