Science Daily February 21, 2023 Most disordered organic polymers are almost incapable of limiting the absorption in the desired cutoff wavelength range, which is detrimental to the design of selective absorbers. An international team of researchers (China, Singapore) reports a scalable selective absorber with a quasiperiodic nanostructure composed by an economical widespread surface self-assembly of densely arranged Fe3O4 nanoparticles, possessing a high-performance energy conversion for low-grade solar energy. By investigating the scale effect of the quasiperiodic densely arranged plasmonic nanostructure, a significant solar absorption >94% and ideal passive suppression of thermal emissivity <0.2 could be obtained simultaneously. With the synergy […]
Tag Archives: Solar energy
Solid material that ‘upconverts’ visible light photons to UV light photons could change how we utilize sunlight
Phys.org January 30, 2023 Only about 4% of terrestrial sunlight falls within the UV range in the electromagnetic spectrum. This leaves a large portion of sunlight spectrum unexploited for photopolymerization to form a resin and activation of photocatalysts to drive reactions that generate green hydrogen or useful hydrocarbons (fuels, sugars, olefins, etc.). Photon upconversion (UC) could be the key to solving this problem. Researchers in Japan have developed a revolutionary solid film that can perform visible-to-UV photon UC for weak incident light while remaining photostable for an unprecedented amount of time in air. The film is completely solvent-free “green” formation […]
Self-repairing healing solar cells recovering in the dark of the night
Nanowerk January 4, 2023 Perovskite solar cells degrade when exposed to sunlight, which results in decreasing performance over time. An international team of researchers (Sweden, Israel) demonstrated that metal halide perovskite solar cells, which degrade in sunlight, can rebuild their efficiency at night, when it’s dark. They exposed single crystals of lead-based metal halide perovskites to powerful lasers, which made them lose their ability to glow. However, they found that the material regained its photoluminescence following some recuperation time in darkness. They observed this in a solar cell’s thin, multicrystalline layer and the other one in single crystals. It is […]
A step towards solar fuels out of thin air
Science Daily January 4, 2023 Taking inspiration from the way plants can convert sunlight into chemical energy using carbon dioxide from the air, researchers in Switzerland have invented a solar-powered artificial leaf, built on a novel electrode capable of harvesting water from the air for conversion into hydrogen fuel. The system combines semiconductor-based technology and the electrodes that are porous and transparent. When the device was simply exposed to sunlight, it took water from the air and produced hydrogen gas. The coating of various semiconductors on the substrates was established including Fe2O3 (chemical bath deposition), CuSCN and Cu2O (electrodeposition), and […]
New insights into energy loss open doors for one up-and-coming solar tech
Science Daily November 18, 2022 Understanding the factors affecting energy loss in organic photovoltaics (OPVs) is imperative to achieve further improvements in their efficiency and to establish design rules for the development of new materials. By studying several planar and bulk heterojunction solar cells, an international team of researchers (USA – Princeton University, Saudi Arabia) has demonstrated that the non-radiative energy loss component quadratically increases with increasing Gaussian CT-state disorder. They showed that by defining the total energy loss in terms of the peak of the CT-state distribution the effect of disorder on OPV performance can be unambiguously identified, offering […]
Solar harvesting system has potential to generate solar power 24/7
Science Daily October 3, 2022 Traditional solar thermophotovoltaics (STPVs) rely on an intermediate layer to tailor sunlight for better efficiencies. However, the thermodynamic efficiency limit of STPVs is still far lower than the Landsberg limit (93.3%), the ultimate efficiency limit for solar energy harvesting. Researchers at the University of Houston showed that the efficiency deficit is caused by the back emission of the intermediate layer towards the sun resulting from the reciprocity of the system. They proposed nonreciprocal solar thermophotovoltaics (NSTPV) that utilize an intermediate layer with nonreciprocal radiative properties. Such a nonreciprocal intermediate layer could substantially suppress its back […]
Researchers invent self-charging, ultra-thin device that generates electricity from air moisture
Science Daily August 17, 2022 The current moisture-driven energy generation (MEG) materials and devices only establish moisture-driven energy interaction during water sorption in specific configurations, and conversion is eventually ceased by saturated water uptake. Researchers in Singapore have developed an asymmetric hygroscopic structure (AHS) that simultaneously achieves energy harvesting and storage from moisture absorption. The AHS was constructed by the asymmetric deposition of a hygroscopic ionic hydrogel over a layer of functionalized carbon. Water absorbed from the air creates wet-dry asymmetry across the AHS and hence an in-plane electric field. The asymmetry could be perpetually maintained even after saturated water […]
Power up: New polymer property could boost accessible solar power
Science Daily June 6, 2022 The function of many biomolecules is directly linked to their chirality. Chiral molecules assemble into chiral structures (like nucleic acids forming DNA), and achiral molecules assemble into achiral structures. Researchers at the University of Illinois have observed structural chirality emerging in achiral conjugated polymers. They combined achiral conjugated polymers with a solvent then added the solution, drop by drop, to a microscope slide. As the solvent molecules evaporated, leaving the polymers behind, the solution became more and more concentrated. Soon, the compressed achiral polymers began self-assembling to form structures. They can be used to design […]
Washable and recyclable solar cell-infused textiles
Nanowerk May 21, 2022 Researchers in Finland laminated a solar cell component between textiles in a water-tight polyurethane film to make the component machine-washable. The textiles containing the solar cell component were then washed dozens of times. Five of the eight samples retained their efficiency, and three lost about 20 percent of their power. None of the cells or the textiles were damaged during the process. They used textiles whose fibers were made of only a single material and thus could be recycled as efficiently as possible. Electronic components can be removed from the fabric simply by first applying heat […]
Converting solar energy to electricity on demand
Science Daily April 11, 2022 An international team of researchers (Sweden, China, Spain) has developed a closed energy system called Molecular Solar Thermal Energy Storage Systems (MOST). It is based on a specially designed molecule of carbon, hydrogen, and nitrogen, which when hit by sunlight changes shape into an energy-rich isomer which can be stored in liquid form for later use when needed, such as at night or in winter. A specially designed catalyst releases the saved energy as heat while returning the molecule to its original shape, so it can then be reused in the heating system. In combination […]