| abstract |
Displays such as liquid crystal displays ( 10 ), organic light emitting diode displays, and touch sensitive displays ( 41 ) are stacked with one or more solar cells ( 15 ) such that light passing through the displays will illuminate the light receiving active surface of the solar cells ( 15 ). No reflector or polarizer need be used when the liquid crystal display ( 10 ) uses cholesteric or polymer dispersed liquid crystals. When using supertwist nematic or twisted nematic liquid crystals, a reflector ( 21 ) can be used that comprises a selective color reflector. The resultant display/solar cell can be utilized in combination with a device such as a wireless communications device ( 62 ) with the solar cell ( 15 ) providing electricity to the display ( 61 ), the wireless communications device ( 62 ), or both. A mask ( 71 ) can be used to occlude surface features on the solar cell ( 15 ) as appropriate to provide a substantially uniformly colored appearance. |