FUTURE SOLAR ENERGY TECHNOLOGIES
SOLAR TECH
1. Generating power from rain drops - future panels
2. New material for solar cells with record break efficiency
1. Silicon-based solar cells break efficiency
records
2. Japanese company develop new solar cells with record braking 26%+ efficiency.
3. Perovskite
3. Converting solar energy in to liquid fuel
4. Flexible solar cell research
5. Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) System - Thermal Storage
6. Solar energy storage by using steam piston engines
7. Transparent (or) Semi transparent solar cells
8. 3D Solar cells
9. Space based solar power technology
10. Liquid Metal Energy storage boost solar power
1. Generating power from rain drops - future panels
Solar panels harness both visible
light and infrared light in order to create usable electricity. Even during the
grayest days, visible light still gets through rain and clouds. Many technical advances have solar cells quite efficient and affordable in recent years. A big disadvantage remains in the fact that solar cells produce no power when the climate change in raining season.
Chinese scientist are now able to create electricity with the assistance of rain drops. Each raindrop has an impact energy that is highly dependent
on the size of the drop; from a small drizzle drop that has 2 microjoules on
impact, to a downpour size drop that carries 1 millijoule of impact energy. For the conversion of solar energy into electricity., the team from ocean university of china (Qindago) and Yunnan Normal University (Kunming, China) develop highly efficient dye-sensitized solar cell.
Graphene layer could allow solar cells
to generate power when it rains. Graphene is a two-dimensional form of carbon in which the
atoms are bonded into a honeycomb arrangement. It can readily be prepared by
the oxidation, exfoliation, and subsequent reduction of graphite. Graphene is
characterized by its unusual electronic properties: It conducts electricity and
is rich in electrons that can move freely across the entire layer
(delocalized). In aqueous solution, graphene can bind positively charged ions
with its electrons (Lewis acid-base interaction). This property is used in
graphene-based processes to remove lead ions and organic dyes from solutions.
These new solar cells can be
stimulated by incident light on sunny days and raindrops when it’s
raining, yielding an optimal energy conversion efficiency of 6.53 % under
1.5 atmosphere thickness irradiation and current over ĀµA, along with a
voltage of hundreds of mV by simulated raindrops.
The salt contained in rain separates into
ions (ammonium, calcium and sodium), making graphene and natural water a great
combination for creating energy. The water actually clings to the graphene,
forming a dual layer (AKA pseudocapacitor) with the graphene electrons. The energy
difference between these layers is so strong that it generates electricity.
The technology isn't perfect, and it is a lot
less efficient than the top solar panels available at the moment. The rain
panels convert about 6.5 per cent of the energy they receive, whereas the
world's best solar panels can convert up to 22.5 per cent.
2. New material for solar cells with record break efficiency
1. Silicon-based solar cells break efficiency records
An international team of researchers from the Ćcole Polytechnique
FƩdƩrale de Lausanne (EPFL), the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable
Energy Laboratory (NREL), and the Swiss Center for Electronics and
Microtechnology (CSEM), recently demonstrated the higher efficiency of
silicon-based multijunction solar cells.
Research paper co-author Adele Tamboli explains that III-V/Si
Solar Cells are a big leap forward because they provide high efficiency on the
scale of solar cells made only of III-V materials, while providing
cost-effectiveness — and this opens the door to creating innovative multi-junction
solar cell materials and architectures.
The 35.9% efficiency result (just 2% below the overall
triple-junction record) was achieved by adding a third cell consisting of a
GaInP/GaAs (gallium arsenide/gallium indium phosphide) tandem cell that was
mounted on a silicon bottom cell. This is in enormous contrast with the
currently dominant single-junction silicon solar cells in existing
photovoltaics, which only achieve 17% to 24% efficiency. The researchers have
argued that solar cell-industry actors should move to the silicon-based
dual-junction solar cell, which could bring efficiency levels to above 30%.
2. Japanese company develop new solar cells with record braking 26%+ efficiency.
The silicon - based solar cells that make up a solar panel have a theoretical efficiency limit of 29%, but so far that numbers has proven elusive. Practical efficiency rates in the low 20% range have been considered very good for commercial solar panels. but researchers with Japanese chemical manufacture Kaneka Corporation have built a solar cell with a photo conversion rate of 26.3 percent, breaking the previous record of 25.6%. although it's just a 2.7% increase in efficiency improvements.
For this record breaking solar cells, the Kaneka researchers also placed low-resistance electrodes towards the rear of the cell, which maximize the number of photons that collected inside the cell from the front. And, as is common on many solar cells, they coated the front of the cell with a layer of amorphous silicon and an anti-reflective layer to protect the cell's components and collect photons more efficiently.
3. Perovskite
In the present study,
a team of researchers led by Professor Seok Sang-Il from the Ulsan National
Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST) describe a method of producing PSCs
that are both highly efficient and photostable. Using methaylammonium lead
iodide as the perovskite material and lanthanum-doped barium stannate as the
electrode, Furthermore, the new
material retains 93 percent of its initial performance after 1,000 hours of
exposure to sunlight, showing excellent photostability.
The research team has
also proposed a new solar cell manufacturing methodology called the
“Hot-Pressing Method.” This method uses temperature and pressure to tightly
join two objects, allowing the production of low-cost, high efficiency and
stable perovskite solar cells. “This study combines the newly-synthesized
photoelectrode material and the hot-pressing method to lower the manufacturing
cost to less than half of the existing silicon solar cells
3. Converting solar energy in to liquid fuel
Scientists Have Figured Out
a Way to Convert Solar Energy Into Liquid Fuel. Researchers
at Harvard have discovered how to convert solar energy into liquid fuel,
potentially accelerating our switch to the alternative-energy source.
At
the moment, solar energy can be converted into hydrogen by using photovoltaic
cells. The hydrogen can then be stored in fuel cells for future use. But
hydrogen has failed to make headway as an energy source in a world that is
infrastructurally set up to handle liquid fuels.
Now, however,
scientists have figured out a way of using sunlight to split water into
hydrogen and oxygen. They then use a bacterium to convert the hydrogen, plus
carbon dioxide, into the liquid fuel isopropanol.
4. Flexible solar cell research
Flexible
solar cell research is a
research-level technology, an example of which was created at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in which solar cells are manufactured by depositing photovoltaic material on flexible
substrates, such as ordinary paper, using chemical vapor
deposition technology. Researchers develop a novel technique using graphene to create solar cells they can mount on surfaces ranging from glass to plastic to paper and tape, imagine a future in which solar cells are all around us - on windows and walls, cell phones, laptops, and more.
Circuits of organic
photovoltaic materials
are deposited in five layers on ordinary paper substrates in a vacuum chamber.
It is done by coating conformal conductive polymer electrodes with oxidative
chemical vapor, a process known as chemical
vapor deposition. Such
solar panels are capable of producing voltages exceeding than 50V, which in
turn can power appliances at normal lighting conditions.
This advance in solar technology was enabled by a novel method of
depositing a one-atom-thick layer of graphene onto the solar cell — without
damaging nearby sensitive organic materials. Until now, developers of
transparent solar cells have typically relied on expensive, brittle electrodes
that tend to crack when the device is flexed. The ability to use graphene
instead is making possible truly flexible, low-cost, transparent solar cells
that can turn virtually any surface into a source of electric power.
Flexible
Solar Cell Achieves 7.6% Efficiency
CSP Tower technology uses a field of flat mirrors, known as heliostats that track the sun and reflect and concentrate the sun rays onto a boiler located a top of tower (the central receiver). the central receiver then converts the concentrated solar energy collected from the total surface of the heliostats into heat in the form of steam which is later sent to a traditional steam turbine generator to generate electricity.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFXLLwbQKYE5c3GAN9eoVblyIqGjFQWbWacfBn4xFBOtwjS8W4TW-O4a5son0-wXsh9AxpuLsHZvHvo1f4rsDsObmlOcm2APP9JzTlKCn9H2bPetM8JXrgYz7Sa4sHk7udhOcP1zupSlU/s640/CSP%252Btechnologies%252BProDes%252BPanel%252BDebate%252B%25E2%2580%2593%252BBaden%252BBaden.jpg)
POWER GENERATION IN TUNISIAThe Power plant will be situated on a 10,000 hectare site on a southern Tunisia. the project will consists of circa 18*125MV CSP towers with molten salt storage producing annual solar output of more than 10,000 Gwh pa (for fully 2.25gw)
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New computer modeling suggests that high temperature TPV conversion – which captures infrared radiation from very hot surfaces – could one day rival combined-cycle turbine systems when combined with thermal storage using liquid metal at temperatures around 1,300 degrees Celsius. Advances in high-temperature components and improved system modeling, combined with the potential for conversion costs an order of magnitude lower than those of turbines, suggest that TPV could offer a pathway for efficiently storing and producing electrical power from solar thermal sources, a new study suggests.
The
underlying technologies of high temperature storage and thermophotovoltaic
conversion could also be used to produce grid-scale batteries able to rapidly
supplement other power sources by storing heat for quick conversion to electricity. The critical challenge to making renewable
energy competitive with fossil fuels at the utility scale is making the
electricity dispatchable. The cost advantages of thermal storage over
electrochemical storage also make a TPV with thermal energy storage (TES)
system attractive for converting and storing energy for use on the grid, said
Hamid Reza Seyf, a graduate research assistant who did the system modeling.
CSP SYSTEM WITH THERMAL STORAGE
If
the TPV power block could be made 60 percent efficient, it could compete with
most cost effective and efficient heat engine that has ever been achieved
commercially, which is accomplished through a tandem turbine based cycle. The
cost of turbines is well established and unlikely to see significant decrease,
hence the only way to reduce their cost is by increasing their efficiency.
However, because current turbines are extremely efficient and operate near
their thermodynamic limit, there is little room for efficiency enhancement.
The computational model shows that a TPV
system coupled with concentrated solar and storage could be as much as 65
percent efficient. But attaining that would require a long-term research
initiative.
6. Solar energy storage by using steam piston engines
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Transparent or semi-transparent solar cells with excellent mechanical flexibility have attracted much attention as next-generation smart solar cells. They can be used in various applications such as on the surfaces of windows, front display panels of personal computers and cell phones, and human skin. But issues remain with regards to improving their power conversion efficiency, optical transparency, flexibility, stability and scalability.
Scientists create highly transparent solar
cells for windows that generate electricity
6. Solar energy storage by using steam piston engines
A number of high-tech solutions for an
energy storage system that can overcome that issue are being developed, but
many of them have a high cost or are dependent on expensive materials.
However, an older technology could be a
viable way forward for solar energy storage, by using steam piston engines and
pressure vessels to accumulate and store the energy for when it's needed.
A group of
Australian engineers have been developing this novel energy storage solution,
and their startup, Terrajoule, already has one demonstration system in
place in California, and is taking aim at some promising cost figures by 2015.The Terrajoule system couples concentrated
solar with steam engines and an integrated storage system using an insulated
pressure vessel to deliver cost-effective solar energy 24 hours a day.
This storage method looks very promising as a robust and low-cost solution for distributed solar energy. since it is impractical to store gaseous steam for later use, the steam is condensed into the mass of water where the energy is stored. the energy lost in this steam-water phase change cycle is less than 2%.
It combines inexpensive solar power with inexpensive storage and behaves like electric motor plugged into the rigid, or even like a diesel genset. in other words, it can operate 24 hours per day, but without the utility bill or the fuel cost. The result is storage at less than 20% of the cost of batteries, with no degradation, no cycle limits, no toxic or rare materials, and a useful life of at least 25 years.
7. Transparent (or) Semi transparent solar cells
The transparent or semi transparent solar cell can be used in a variety of ways. this new type of solar cell is likely to have impact on the technologies we use in daily life in the near future. Researchers at Tohoku University have developed an
innovative method for fabricating semitransparent and flexible solar cells with
atomically thin 2D materials. The new technology improves power conversion
efficiency of up to 0.7% this is the highest value for solar cells made from
transparent 2D sheet materials.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb6lbguGX2Uji15eHMKW-Tw9WlET0s11fREua3lKbBlu0RpoKzfvSBrHybYCZ1hNHS2OzTQ7yPkV2BLwxmPQd8MTkDI8m4t7pOS9HDIXGja3XWPCRy6h_3mMNi7EstvDMZjZcfTDyycPM/s640/transparents.gif)
Transparent or semi-transparent solar cells with excellent mechanical flexibility have attracted much attention as next-generation smart solar cells. They can be used in various applications such as on the surfaces of windows, front display panels of personal computers and cell phones, and human skin. But issues remain with regards to improving their power conversion efficiency, optical transparency, flexibility, stability and scalability.
Scientists create highly transparent solar
cells for windows that generate electricity
Visibly transparent
photovoltaic devices can open photovoltaic applications in many areas, such as
building-integrated photovoltaics or integrated photovoltaic chargers for
portable electronics. We demonstrate high-performance, visibly transparent
polymer solar cells fabricated via solution processing. The photoactive layer
of these visibly transparent polymer solar cells harvests solar energy from the
near-infrared region while being less sensitive to visible photons.
The top transparent electrode employs a highly transparent silver nanowire–metal oxide composite conducting film, which is coated through mild solution processes. With this combination, we have achieved 4% power-conversion efficiency for solution-processed and visibly transparent polymer solar cells. The optimized devices have a maximum transparency of 66% at 550 nm.
The top transparent electrode employs a highly transparent silver nanowire–metal oxide composite conducting film, which is coated through mild solution processes. With this combination, we have achieved 4% power-conversion efficiency for solution-processed and visibly transparent polymer solar cells. The optimized devices have a maximum transparency of 66% at 550 nm.
8. 3D Solar cells
Solar energy and 3d printed solar cells are still in the future but closer to being a reality. Recently the technology of 3d printable solar cells has been developed. you can even fold it up to slip into a pocket, then unfold it and watch it generating electricity again in the sunlight.
3D Printed Solar Palms Provide Sustainable
Technology Hubs in Dubai
Australian scientists develop 3D printed organic solar cells
capable of powering a skyscraper
In space there's no atmosphere, it's never cloudy, and in geosynchronous orbits it's never night: a perfect place for a solar power station to harvest uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
3D Printed Solar Palms Provide Sustainable
Technology Hubs in Dubai
The palm trees, known as Smart Palms, are being
developed as “community tech hubs” by D Idea Media, a media, marketing and design company based in Dubai.
The 20-foot-tall trees are made from concrete and 3d printed, fiber-reinforced
plastic with added ultraviolet and humidity protection.
They are equipped with
mono crystal solar panels, which collect enough solar power to not only provide
illumination at night, but to act as WiFi hubs and access points for users to
charge their phones, laptops and tablets. Currently, the trees have the
capability of charging 50 devices at a time, and project a WiFi radius of
approximately 53 meters.
Touch screens provide information about the
surrounding area. Crucially, the trees also have cameras attached, so visitors
can take the ever-important selfie while waiting for their devices to charge.
Australian scientists develop 3D printed organic solar cells
capable of powering a skyscraper
Among others, a team of 50 Australian scientist from various fields have been working over the past few years to develop paper-thin, organic printable solar cells as part of the victorian solar cell consortium. According to the researchers, the printable panels capable of powering entire skyscrapers and they are hoping to see commercial market production for the printable panels for use starting in low power applications in future.
The researchers have managed to reduce each of solar panel approximately the size of coin and have been able to achieve this manufacturing marvel thanks to 3d printers that have been modified to print with solar ink.
9. Space based solar power technology
The United States,
China, India and Japan all have projects at various stages of development that
would see robots assemble solar arrays that could provide the Earth with
massive amounts of clean and renewable energy delivered wirelessly. Some variants of the
idea could even see as much as 1GW of energy beamed to receivers on Earth --
enough to power a large city.
In space there's no atmosphere, it's never cloudy, and in geosynchronous orbits it's never night: a perfect place for a solar power station to harvest uninterrupted power 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.
The concept has been
around since the 1940s when science fiction writer Isaac Asimov posited the
idea of a robot-manned space station that delivered energy to Earth via
microwaves.
The laser beam option
would involve sending small laser-transmitting satellites into space at the
relatively low cost of between $500 million and $1 billion. The self-assembling
satellite would lower costs and the small diameter of the laser beam would make
it easier to collect on the ground. But at just 1MW to
10MW per satellite, many satellites would be needed to provide enough energy.
As well as this, laser transmitting satellites would have difficulty beaming
power through clouds and rain.
The microwave option
would have the advantage of uninterrupted transmission through rain, hail or
any other atmospheric conditions and could provide gigawatts of power. Microwave technology,
Dr Jaffe explained, has been established for decades: as early as 1964,
scientists were able to power a helicopter using microwaves. Dr Jaffe said with
a large receiving area the energy from the microwaves was so dissipated that it
would present no danger to life.
The chief
disadvantage, however, is the fact that as many as 100 launches into space
would be required to construct the space stations with costs running into tens
of billions. Unfortunately,
too, from a public relations standpoint, both microwaves and lasers have
negative connotations for most people because they associate microwaves with
the oven in their kitchen and lasers with science fiction space battles,"
Dr Jaffe said.
10. Liquid metal storage boost solar power
The capturing of solar energy, holding it in a liquid state, and then releasing
it as needed as heat, has been demonstrated at the laboratory scale by
technologists working at the Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.
Solar energy remains regarded by many as the main energy capture form of
the future. However, the process is hampered by relative inefficiencies in
terms of power conversion and with energy storage. There are also problems with
the release of energy, making current technologies less adaptable to ‘energy on
demand’ scenarios.
To allow captured solar energy to be stored and released as required the
Swedish researchers have shown how solar energy can be transformed into energy
stored in the bonds of a chemical fluid. This becomes what is termed a
“molecular solar thermal system.” Key to this is the liquid used and a number
of organic compounds have been scrutinized for this purpose, such as the norbornadiene-quadricyclane
system. Here
organometallic-diruthenium compounds have shown promising solar energy
conversion and storage properties, which is a product of their inherent
stability and large energy storage enthalpies (a measurement of energy in a
thermodynamic system).
The Swedish
development has made it possible to store and transport the stored solar energy
and release it on demand, with near to full recovery of the storage medium,
using the organic compound norbornadiene. On exposure to light the chemical
converts into quadricyclane.
A group of
researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say liquid
metals could provide the solution to the solar energy-storage problem, ensuring
that the power is available at all times and not just when the sun is shining.
The researchers
are working on commercializing liquid-metal batteries that can store
energy for less than $500 per kilowatt-hour. The group launched a startup
company, Ambri Inc., and believes it has found an alternative to
pumped-
water systems that currently comprise
about 95 percent of the country’s energy-storage capacity.
MIT researcher Donald
Sadoway said a new storage technology could change renewable energy.
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