Organic solar panels designed with coloured Moiré effect

France-based organic PV module maker Armor solar power films and Dutch designer Marjan van Aubel have designed transparent organic PV modules for the Netherlands’ pavilion at the Expo 2020 Dubai, the universal exposition that will take place in the United Arab Emirates in October.

Van Aubel specializes in incorporating solar cells into furniture, windows, and other objects. In this project, she utilized Armor’s ‘ASCA’ organic transparent solar cells to create colored modules in which the lines and patterns are interacting with each other.

The transparent panels produce electricity for the pavilion and simultaneously allow sunlight into its spaces and filter the light’s spectrum to enable the photosynthesis of the plants located inside the building. “Van Aubel demonstrates that solar panels, whilst collecting energy, can be beautiful and a form of art too,” Armor said in a statement, adding that the graphic design is made with a colored Moiré effect, which is an interference pattern produced by overlaying similar but slightly offset templates.

The ASCA cells have a power of up to 40 W/m², a weight of 500g/m², and a thickness of 400 μm. The manufacturer can produce them in different colors including red, blue, green and gray. Dimensions and design are customizable, as well as maximum current and maximum voltage.

In October 2020, Armor said its flexible and semi-transparent ASCA film had reached an efficiency of 26%. Its solar technology is mainly used to supply electricity to small connected objects indoors in environments where the light is low (from 200 lux), such as temperature sensors, presence detectors, and trackers for the geolocation of goods, medical equipment, or people.