Another direction for transparent wood applications is as a high optical transmittance for optoelectronic devices as substrates in photovoltaic solar cells. Li and her colleagues at the KTH Royal Institute of Technology studied the high optical transmittance that makes transparent wood a candidate for substrate in perovskite solar cells. They concluded that transparent wood has high optical transmittance of 86% and long term stability with fracture of toughness 3.2 MPa⋅m compared to glass substrate fracture of toughness 0.7–0.85 MPa⋅m, which meets the substrates requirements for solar cells. These are relevant information for transparent woods possible application because it is a suitable and sustainable solution to the substrate for solar cell assembly with potential in energy-efficient building applications, as well as replacements for glass and lowering the carbon footprint for the devices.
Transparent wood could transform the material sciences and building industries by enabling new applications such as load-bearing windows. These components could also generate improvements in energy savings and efficiency over glass or other traditional materials. A lot of work and research is needed to understand the interaction between light and the wood structure further, to tune the optical and mechanical properties, and to take advantage of advanced transparent wood composite applications