PhotoColor PV
Project Overview
University
Year
About
Conventional solar panels are usually dark, limiting their use on façades where appearance matters, while coloured coatings often absorb light and reduce energy output. PhotoColor PV uses self-assembled photonic materials that create colour by reflecting and scattering selected wavelengths rather than absorbing them. The materials can be sprayed, printed onto glass or incorporated into panel components using scalable processes while maintaining high conversion efficiency. Demonstrated on building façades and roadside sound barriers in China, the technology could make solar power easier to integrate into architecture and urban infrastructure.
Team
Juan Diego Carbajal Mauricio
Juan Diego is an engineer and graduate student from Peru. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical-Electrical Engineering from Universidad de Piura (Peru) and is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Power Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University (China). His research focuses on Building-Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV), particularly colored photovoltaic technologies. Motivated by the need to reduce our carbon emissions and accelerate the transition away from fossil fuels, he works to expand the role of solar energy in the built environment by developing innovative photovoltaic technologies that combine high performance with aesthetics.
Sinan Li
2017-2021, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, undergraduate 2021-2026, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, PHD student
Zhenpeng Li
Zhenpeng Li is currently a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University, where he works on radiative thermal management and advanced optical materials. He received his B.S. and Ph.D. in Engineering from Shanghai Jiao Tong University in 2019 and 2024. His research spans photonic materials, solar energy, structural coloration, radiative cooling and thermal management. His work aims to connect fundamental light-matter interactions with scalable solutions for clean energy and climate adaptation.
Yuning Chen
Yuning Chen holds a bachelor's degree in Building Environment and Energy Engineering from Nanjing Normal University and pursued her Master's and doctoral studies at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research primarily focuses on Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) and colored photovoltaic technologies. Her research has been published in leading journals such as Applied Energy and Solar Energy. Motivated by a vision of promoting the integration of photovoltaics into buildings, she is dedicated to developing methods and techniques for coloring photovoltaic modules, striving to strike an optimal balance between color aesthetics and efficiency loss.
Jingyi Liu
Jingyi Liu is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Energy and Power Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. Her research focuses on colored building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV), particularly encapsulant films incorporating structural-color pigments. She studies the optical and photovoltaic performance of these materials through numerical modeling and experimental characterization, with particular attention to their color-related properties. Her work aims to optimize structural-color encapsulation materials by balancing photovoltaic efficiency, visual appearance, and angular color stability for practical BIPV applications.