I am up for anything that makes solar energy more efficient. "Hiding" the collectors in windows sounds like an excellent idea! I would do that in our next house if it becomes affordable and efficient.

The inner coating of the glass could be made of any number of materials depending on the function of the glass.
Reflective one way, UV Cancelling, Tinting, Polarized, privacy or even full blackout could be used.

With no tax incentives or government help here in Mexico, solar is only really used in remote off-grid locations that have no other alternatives for power. The investment in inverters & batteries, their short lives and a committment to their maintenance doesn't make financial sense yet until the technology becomes more efficient.

An issue here in Cabo (avg 350 days of sunshine annually) is that even double paned glass doesn't have a very good R factor to keep out the heat in the summertime, although it is markedly better than single paned. Heat comes in and cool air escapes right through it. So, adding more glass to make more energy to replace more lost cool air sounds a little whacko! Although the views here are beautiful and I wonder if they could create structural glass to replace entire walls...

I am not an electrical engineer, but haven't heard or seen any home solar units capable of running 4 or 5 tons of AC.

Another potential application could be patio covers made with that material, also tinted, reflected, etc.