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Smart glass worth one million euros


The smart window developed by the Milan-Bicocca University is worth a million euros.  This is the amount invested by Glass to Power, a spin-off of the University of Milan. A real success of innovation in the academic field that represents one of the most important investments ever made in Italy to acquire a family of patents developed as part of the activity of a public university.  All this less than five years after the first research data developed by Professors Sergio Brovelli and Francesco Meinardi of the Department of Materials Science (2014) and less than two years after the establishment of Glass to Power in September 2016, with the aim of starting a real commercialization phase at the beginning of 2019.  The technology used in the window is LSC – Luminescent Solar Concentrator, which uses nanocrystals inserted in plexiglass sheets.  Nanocrystals convert sunlight into infrared rays that are reflected inside the panel until they reach the edge of the panel itself.  Here a thin strip of silicon photovoltaic cells converts infrared photons into electrical current with high efficiency.  Energy flows invisibly from the transparent windows of homes, offices and shopping centers, directly to the storage systems or for immediate use by any user.