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Researchers in Australia have unveiled a new technology that captures stored solar energy and releases it at night, advancing energy sustainability.
Solar energy has become one of the main solutions for reducing greenhouse gas emissions. However, its dependence on direct sunlight to generate electricity limits its efficiency at night and on cloudy days.
To get around this limitation, Australian scientists have developed an innovative technology capable of generating energy from infrared radiation emitted by the Earth after sunset.
The challenge of conventional solar energy
Photovoltaic solar panels rely on visible light to generate electricity. As a result, their production stops at night and can be reduced in adverse weather conditions.
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To ensure continuous power supply, many installations use storage batteries, which significantly increases costs.
According to International Energy Agency (IEA), photovoltaic solar energy accounted for 3,6% of global electricity generation in 2022.
However, the intermittency of production is one of the main challenges for its large-scale adoption. Therefore, new approaches are being developed to maximize the efficiency of solar energy capture.
The capture of infrared radiation
During the day, the Earth absorbs much of the sun's energy, and at night it dissipates this heat in the form of infrared radiation.
It was based on this principle that researchers from the School of Photovoltaic Engineering and Renewable Energy at the University of New South Wales, in Australia, developed a device capable of transforming this dissipated energy into electricity.
The equipment is called thermoradiative diode, a semiconductor similar to those used in night vision goggles.
According to Dr. Phoebe Pearce, a member of the research group, in the same way that a solar cell generates electricity by absorbing light emitted by the Sun, the thermoradiative diode generates electricity by capturing infrared light in a colder environment.
Benefits and applications
This new technology opens up unprecedented possibilities for renewable energy generation. Currently, the amount of electricity generated by a thermoradiative diode is still small — about 100.000 times less than the output of a traditional solar panel.
However, scientists believe that advances in research could make this energy source viable for a variety of applications.
Among the potential benefits is the possibility of reducing or even eliminating the need for batteries in electronic devices such as smartwatches and Internet of Things (IoT) sensors.
Furthermore, this technology can be applied in the space industry, where satellites and spacecraft depend on solar energy to operate.
If advances continue, the technology could contribute to the supply of electricity in remote and difficult-to-access environments.
Challenges and future prospects
Despite its great potential, infrared energy capture is still in the early stages of development.
The main challenges include increasing the energy conversion efficiency and reducing the production costs of thermoradiative diodes.
Energy researchers believe that with technological advances, this solution could become a viable complement to solar systems. conventional.
Professor Ned Ekins-Daukes, who led the research, says there is still a long way to go, but they are confident that this technology could transform the renewable energy sector in the coming decades.
Therefore, the possibility of generating energy at night opens up new horizons for a more sustainable future.
Combining daytime and nighttime solar technologies can further drive the global energy transition, reducing dependence on fossil fuels and contributing to the goal of carbon neutrality by 2050.
With information from Neozone.
Generation “100.000 times smaller”, but it will evolve and improve. NO WAY! In the unlikely event that it improved 1.000 times, it would still be 100x SMALLER. Nighttime infrared radiation from the ground is an infinitesimal fraction of daytime solar radiation and always will be.
This subject doesn't even deserve attention. Waste of time. Get real.
Here comes Brazil with an energy matrix composed of a huge amount of hydroelectric power. During the day, it consumes less water by raising the level of the reservoirs, that is, the reservoirs are the batteries. There is no need to generate energy at night, with this system. For Brazil, there is no need.
Reversible storage plants are more promising. They use excess solar energy to pump water into a reservoir above, and at night, hydroelectric power is generated from this accumulation.