A research team at the University of Wisconsin in Madison has demonstrated the viability of a design for solar panels that can simultaneously generate and store electrons harvested from sunlight in a single device.
Like other solar panels, the new solar cells would use some electrons from light created as electricity. Unlike other solar cells, the panels would also store electrons on zinc oxide nanowires coated with polyvinylidene fluoride polymer (PVDF). The energy stored during the day could be used to run the lights at night or on cloudy days.
The PVDF has a high dielectric constant, which releases the stored energy through the nanowires when the solar cell stops harvesting energy.
The catch is that the system has only about four percent efficiency. Given the early stage of the research, the poor efficiency is not very surprising.
On the other hand, the implications for solar energy of an alternative to traditional battery storage solutions seems significant – to put it mildly.
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