Renewables have long lines of research and development behind them to refine technologies and improve efficiency in energy production. Each type of renewable energy has its advantages and disadvantages and it is the job of scientists to improve every day so that they can become more competitive in the market and replace fossil fuels in the energy transition.
In this case, scientists from two Chinese universities have developed solar panels that are capable of generating electrical energy. on cloudy days, with rain, fog or even at night. Could this be a big step for the world of solar energy?
Dream solar panels
Solar energy has always had a big drawback: the amount of solar radiation and meteorology. On windy, cloudy, rainy or foggy days, the amount of solar radiation that hits the solar panels is less. Therefore, the amount of energy that the solar panel is capable of generating is much less. This leads to instability in the energy supply that must be overcome.
The objective of the investigations of the Chinese universities is the one to be able to increase the efficiency in the conversion of direct light until it returns to see more quantity of solar radiation and to generate enough energy, although the meteorological conditions make that the luminosity is scarce.
New material that absorbs a lot of sunlight
Material capable of absorbing large amounts of sunlight is flame LPP (for its acronym in English "long-lasting phosphorus") and can store solar energy during the day so that it is collected at night.
Only partially visible light can be absorbed and converted into electricity, but LPP It can store solar energy from unabsorbed and near infrared light. That is, a material capable of absorbing light in a broader spectrum such as infrared.
We remember that the margin of the electromagnetic spectrum that humans can see is the visible region. However, there are many types of radiation of different wavelengths and intensity such as infrared rays.
Thanks to these panels, a large amount of energy can be stored not only from direct sunlight, but other regions of the electromagnetic spectrum can also be transformed into electrical energy.