No photovoltaics and no perovskites. The future of renewable energy is cheap supracules
Scientists have created a solution that outperforms the traditional solutions already found on the roofs of many Polish houses. And what’s more, it is cheaper than photovoltaics.
Energy from renewable sources cannot run out – this is a great advantage of Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The sun will accompany us until the very end of our civilization, when no one will remember about coal, gas or diesel oil. And what’s more, it is available almost everywhere on Earth. Man’s task is to come up with a solution that will be able to use solar energy more and more effectively.
Scientists have called spherical, self-assembling nanostructures consisting of hundreds or even thousands of gold nanoparticles with precisely controlled size supraballs. They have the ability to absorb almost the entire spectrum of sunlight.
Photovoltaics cannot use infrared light
As reported by National Geographic magazine, the innovation of this solution lies in its ability to absorb almost the entire spectrum of sunlight, including wavelengths in the near infrared range, which are poorly absorbed by classic photovoltaic panels. A team including Jaewon Lee, Seungwoo Lee and Kyung Hun Rho is working on it.
Currently used solar panels are most often based on silicon or thin-film semiconductors. For this reason, light absorption is limited to a part of the spectrum, mainly in the visible light range. Gold supracules have been designed to take advantage of the plasmonic effect, which significantly increases the efficiency of absorbing photons of various energies.
The light falling on them causes electrons to vibrate in the conductive material, which maximizes the efficiency of converting solar energy into electricity and heat.
Photovoltaic panels with a new layer of supraspheres
Tests have shown that supraculas achieve an average sunlight absorption of approximately 89%. For comparison, the absorption of individual gold nanoparticles is only 45%. In addition, ready-made supracrucle coatings can be applied to available thermoelectric generators in room conditions, without the need to use advanced technologies or high temperatures.
Unlike many innovations, this one does not require the construction of completely new installations. Suprakule can be used as a coating for existing photovoltaic panels.
