Newly Proposed Anti-Solar Cells Can Generate Power at Night

The existing solar cells technology can produce electricity in day time only. They do not function at night; thus, we have to reserve the heat they make during the day. Later, we can use this energy to power things during night time. The entire scenario is fine, except that the cells function in the daytime only. But that might not be the case in the upcoming few years. Maybe, we will get solar panels that will perform day and night. Scientists from the University of California have proposed the latest theory of solar panels in a paper published in the journal ACS Photonics.

The researchers say it is possible to create solar cells capable of producing electricity at nighttime. As per the research, in order to create such cells, develop one that functions conversely to solar panels work through the day. They have dubbed the latest technology as the anti-solar panel. The idea of making solar cells working at night has inspired the researchers to develop the new approach. It utilizes the Earth as a source of heat, and the dark sky as a radiator or heat-sink. As a result, we get a nighttime photovoltaic cell that can produce electricity at night time.

The study highlights the concept of cells that could produce around 50 watts of electricity per square meter. The paper states the device could make up a quarter of energy at nighttime as that of a standard daytime solar panel. Jeremy Munday, leading author of the study, said both solar and anti-solar panels are basically a heat engine. He added it comprises two bodies with diverse temperatures and a mean to convert that power. Munday said the procedure is the same as the functioning of a regular solar cell but in the opposite way. In the nighttime, the Earth is relatively hot, and the space is cold. Considering the hot and the cold body, heat is passing from the Earth to the exterior space. Notably, the device traps this heat and convert it into power.

Munday added this type of devices use thermoradiative cell to produce electricity. Whereas, the conventional solar cells use the photovoltaic cells. The daytime functioning solar panels comprise of silicon that traps light. But for the current device, researchers are seeking a material that can seize exceptionally lengthy wavelength light. They aim to use mercury alloys that would offer the functionality at night time. Even more, Munday and the team are working on building models to make this concept working.