Posted on 10/17/2014 11:40:05 AM PDT by Red Badger
A new kind of solar cell could store electrical energy without any help from traditional batteries, according to a new study.
Researchers at Ohio State University, in Columbus, have developed what they're calling the world's first solar battery — a hybrid device that combines the energy-capturing abilities of a solar cell with the energy-storing capabilities of a battery.
The new cell could lower the cost of harvesting renewable energy from the sun by as much as 25 percent, according to the researchers. [Top 10 Craziest Environmental Ideas]
The key to the device's success is a mesh solar panel that allows both sunlight and air to enter the cell. This porous material represents a departure from the solid semiconductor materials typically used to make solar cells. Allowing both light and oxygen into the cell enables the chemical reactions that typically occur inside a battery to occur within the solar cell itself.
"The state of the art is to use a solar panel to capture the light, and then use a cheap battery to store the energy," lead researcher Yiying Wu, a professor of chemistry at Ohio State, said in a statement. "We’ve integrated both functions into one device. Any time you can do that, you reduce cost."
But this innovative device can do more than just lower the cost of renewable energy, Wu said. It can also help solve a problem that's been plaguing scientists for years: how to store energy from the sun without losing a lot of that energy in the process.
A loss of electricity naturally occurs within any solar cell when the electrons released by the cell's semiconductor materials travel outside the cell and into a battery. Only about 80 percent of the electrons produced by solar cells successfully complete this journey.
(Excerpt) Read more at livescience.com ...
A scanning electron microscope image of a piece of mesh solar panel that was used to develop a new solar battery. The device combines the energy-capturing abilities of a solar cell with the energy-storing capabilities of a battery. Credit: Yiying Wu, Ohio State University
Really interesting concept. The real payday will come if the battery component can be manufactured using cheap compatible processes.
How much Toxic Waste is left behind after it’s manufactured ?
I’ve been reading this same article every year since the first oil embargo in 1973.
But, after at least $100 billion of R&D and government subsidies, solar still produces less than 1% of the world’s energy.
It’s a great idea, and the technology is fascinating.
But will it EVER be cost competitive?
Right in time for world depopulation.
“Basically, it’s a breathing battery,” he said. “It breathes in air when it discharges, and breathes out when it charges.”
Interesting...
Interesting device, though I doubt it’d be available any time soon.
Also an interesting concept for preppers, provided that it is affordable.
Even if you had solar panels that were 100% efficient, you could never get more than 100 watts per square foot of panel at the equator. That is the amount of raw power that makes it to the earth. One must expect less power per square foot at higher latitudes.
In sort, solar power is strictly for low power needs.
when solar cells can produce and store ALL/100% of the power needed for homes with the least average sunlight, day or night, and do so at a cost as low as the lowest cost energy source available, and with installation costs that pay-off in ten years or less, then I might consider them.
So let's say you have a roof area of 30’ by 20’. That's 600sf at just 10 watts/sf that would be 6kW. Let's say you can get that for 8 hrs a day, that's 48kWH a day. At 10 cents a kWH lets call it $5 a day, for 30 days a month that is pretty close to what I pay a month in electricity bills in the DC suburbs for 2500sf house.
They are in fact getting pretty close to making this viable. If the solar cell costs get below 50 cents a watt they will be on everyone’s roof. Right now you can buy solar panels close to a dollar a watt.
Batteries have improved at an even slower pace than solar electric panels.
I read recently that battery storage has increased only by a factor of four since the 1930’s.
I assume the issue with batteries is pretty simple - if you want more electrons, that means more size and more weight.
You are right about the batteries. I think it is simply a matter of the fact that there are only so many elements out there and the valence between one and another is limited. Kinda like trying to make a rounder wheel.
However you only need batteries if you want energy independence. Most utilities will let you spin the meter backwards, so they essentially become the battery.
I would guess that most folks can be sold on the idea dropping their utility cost by half, which I don’t think is that far off.
“Selling” electricity back to the utility only works if a limited number of customers are doing it.
If the entire grid is solar-ized, the utility will go bankrupt.
So, either you need batteries, or you need a “tax” of some kind to subsidize the backup utility.
Either choice will immediately reduce the “savings” on your electric bill.
Currently utilities are required to buy back the power. In most cases for small power providers (like a home) the easiest way for them to do it is by literally letting the meter spin backwards.
Residential power use is a small part of the total grid load, so it won’t be until data centers and arc furnaces go offline that there will be a problem.
If you use batteries it can be a nice seamless transfer when the utility goes down and can carry you as long as the sun comes up the next day.
I am sure the utilities will cry about it, but they already have their hand in the Alternate Power cookie jar of tax dollars, so I don’t think they can complain too much.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.