New solar panels are introduced: darkness can also generate electricity
A few days ago, researchers at Stanford University have built a small prototype solar panel that can generate electricity day and night.
According to a paper published in Applied Physics Letters, it acts like a classic solar panel, converting sunlight into electricity during the day. At night, an embedded thermoelectric generator (TEG) "draws its power from the temperature difference between the photovoltaic cells and the surrounding environment.
Shanhui Fan, a Stanford University electrical engineer who led the research, said they attached an insulating material called a thermoelectric module to the photovoltaic cells. The material acts like a hydroelectric dam, absorbing the heat flow and generating energy from it.
The technology works by capturing the heat of the day into a heat sink. Then, as this energy is naturally radiated back into space, some of it can be captured by TEG and a unique material that captures thermal wavelengths.
Despite the breakthrough, the technology still has many challenges. First, the power generated at night is only 50 mW/ping , compared to about 1,000 W/ping for a standard solar panel. Second, the heat will cool down relatively quickly, which translates into a decay in the amount of power generated.
But the technology is exciting and may be used for low-power applications or where there is a reliable source of heat, such as lighting LEDs, or charging cell phones or sensors.
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