Researchers at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney have discovered a new type of solar cells that can generate electricity at night as well. The technology is known as ‘Night-Time’ solar power and it generates electricity from heat emitted as infrared light by a thermoradiative diode which is a semiconductor device. As of now, the technology has a very small amount of energy which is around 1,00,000 times less than the energy supplied by a solar panel. However, scientists hope to produce more energy in the future and improve the results. The researchers claim that this technology could achieve the ultimate dream of renewable energy which is power generation uninterrupted by the setting of the sun. This research by UNSW scientists has been published in the journal ACS Photonics.
How does night-time solar power works?
The research team claims that the night-time solar taps into a “large and unused spectrum of potential power.” The scientists use thermoradiative diode to capture the infrared radiation as it escapes the earth and they further covert this captured power into electricity. The team’s lead researcher Ned Ekins- Daukes says that both night-time and normal solar depends on the flow of energy from hot to cold areas. With the normal solar power, the sun offers the hot source and a moderately cool solar panel provides a cold absorber on the earth’s surface which allows electricity to be produced.
When can we expect night-time solar to be widely available?
As mentioned earlier, the night-time solar is still in its early stage of development and it generates a very small amount of energy. But scientists believe that one day it will be able to generate around 10% of the power produced by a solar panel. Interestingly, other teams of scientists around the globe are also working on the night solar and Stanford scientists are developing a unique technique to catch the radiant heat of the earth. The co-author of the UNSW study says that his concept has a huge potential no matter if the technology is not fully prepared to be launched.
