If I told you that you can produce solar energy with rain How would you stay
We already know that the rain with the generation of solar energy do not get along very well and this basically happens because photovoltaic cells significantly lower their efficiency Regarding electricity production, it is referred to on rainy days.
To change this and make it more fantastic, Qunwei Tang, leader of a group of chinese scientists, is studying how develop a solar cell that is capable of generate energy with the help of raindrops.
If they succeed, solar energy would undoubtedly take a great burden off its shoulders with the disadvantage that it it cannot be profitable on cloudy and rainy days.
At this rate solar energy will be unrivaled to compete with other renewable energies, although it can be said that with a sunny day a good amount of energy can be produced and with cloudy days at least half or a little less than that amount as we saw in the article "Solar energy versus other energy sources."
Ya with the development of this new solar cell we will be able to continue producing with raindrops, the icing on the cake of solar energy.
graphene
This group of scientists led by Qunwei Tang, cited above, have thought of using graphene for the development of said solar cell.
Graphene in case you don't know is a substance composed of pure carbon, its atoms are composed in a regular pattern much like graphite.
A one-atom sheet of graphene is approximately 200 times stronger than steel itself and its density is the same as carbon fiber and it is lighter than aluminum (about 5 times lighter). It is also a good conductor of electricity.
With all these characteristics, who would not notice him?
Solar cell
Well, the new solar cell incorporates a layer of graphene the thickness of an atom and it is capable of producing solar energy from the raindrops themselves.
Considering that many countries are considered very rainy such as some parts of China, New Zealand, Hawaii, etc. and the performance of solar panels drops drastically due to this meteorological phenomenon, for saying that they have solar panels installed, The development of this solar cell is a breakthrough for solar energy.
Operation
This thin layer of graphene is enough to achieve some positive results.
Being a good conductor of electricity as I have said previously in the characteristics of graphene a large number of electrons are able to move across the surface of the shell.
When it rains the Lewis acid-base reaction thus allowing the energy generation.
The Lewis acid-base reaction or neutralization reaction it is just a chemical reaction that occurs between an acid and a base producing a salt and water.
The word "salt" describes any ionic compound whose cation comes from a base (Na+ NaOH) and whose anion comes from an acid (Cl- HCl).
Neutralization reactions are generally exothermic, which means that they give off energy in the form of heat. Here is the prize!
They are often called neutralization because when an acid reacts with a base, they neutralize each other's properties.
Result
This solar cell is in the design and experimentation phase which means that there is still a long time to see it on the market (there is not even a price although this new technology is being debated)
There is still much to do and develop since aims to improve your efficiency.
Today its yield revolves around 6.5%, a very low value if we see most of solar panels now who have a 22% yield (for me also very far from being able to take advantage of solar energy efficiently).