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Monday, April 11th, 2016

Scientists are developing graphene solar panels that generate energy when it rains

Author:     DAVID NIELD
Source:     Science alert
Publication Date:     8 APR 2016
 Link: Scientists are developing graphene solar panels that generate energy when it rains
Stephan:   Here is some more good news about solar. The technology is developing so fast it is hard to keep up. Imagine electricity on cloudy days with rain. The research described in this report was originally published in the journal Angewandte Chemie.
Credit: Shutterstock

Credit: Shutterstock

Solar power is making huge strides as a reliable, renewable energy source, but there’s still a lot of untapped potential in terms of the efficiency of photovoltaic cells and what happens at night and during inclement weather. Now a solution has been put forward in the form of producing energy from raindrops.

Key to the new process is graphene: a ‘wonder’ material we’ve heard plenty about before. Because raindrops are not made up of pure water, and contain various salts that split up into positive and negative ions, a team from the Ocean University of China in Qingdao thinks we can harness power via a simple chemical reaction. Specifically, they want to use graphene sheets to separate the positively charged ions in rain (including sodium, calcium, and ammonium) and in turn generate electricity.

Early tests, using slightly salty water to simulate rain, have been promising: the researchers were able to generate hundreds of microvolts and achieve a respectable 6.53 percent solar-to-electric conversion efficiency from their customised solar panel.

For the experiment, the team used […]

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