Technology

Found a way to increase the efficiency of solar panels by 80%

Today, solar panels are increasinglyapplication in everyday life. However, this battery has one significant disadvantage. You can say Achilles heel. It is warm. The fact is that the hotter the carriage panels become, the more their efficiency decreases due to the heating of the elements and the dissipation of most of the energy. Therefore, many researchers are working to get rid of this shortcoming. Someone is trying to create efficient cooling systems, but the teachings from the United States went the other way. And their research can improve the efficiency of solar cells by 80%.

How to increase the efficiency of solar cells

Scientists from Rice University want to solveThe problem is very nontrivial way - the transformation of heat into light, which can then be used to produce electricity. They say that their research could ultimately lead to the creation of solar panels that are four times more efficient than any commercially available solar cells.

Any hot surface emits light in the form ofthermal radiation, says Gururaj Naik, an associate professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Rice University. The problem is that thermal radiation occurs in a wide range, and the conversion of light into electricity is effective only if the radiation is in a narrow range.

The research team came up with the ideausing carbon nanotube films to create a “hyperbolic thermal radiator” that can operate at temperatures up to 700 degrees Celsius. The device allows electrons to move only in one direction. Squeezing photons emitted in the form of heat. As a result, light is created, which can then be absorbed by the solar cell.

See also: Tesla introduced a powerful modular solar panels for storing energy.

In other words, there is a narrowing of the range of thermal radiation, which ultimately allows you to convert heat into light, which will go on to produce electricity.

"Squeezing" all available thermal energy ina small "spectral region", we can turn it into electricity. Theoretically, we can get up to 80% efficiency gains, since the heat from the sunlight does not dissipate, but goes to generate electricity.

When will new solar panels appear

At the moment, the development of scientists is onlyat the initial stage, but all theoretical calculations suggest that with the help of a new approach, one can significantly take into account the energy efficiency of solar panels. These studies are published in the journal ACS Photonics. Well, the scientists themselves are planning to begin practical tests of their technology in the near future.

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