Researchers coated a solar cell with a very thin film of graphene, to also produce power by rain.
Scientists from the Ocean University of China (Qingdao) and Yunnan Normal University (Kunming, China) have created an “all-weather solar cell,” based on a dye-sensitized solar cell, that works both in the sun and in the rain.
The new cell when raindrops start to fall, can switch to its graphene-based energy collection system.
Graphene characterized by its unusual electronic properties, conducts electricity and then the electrons can move freely across the entire layer (delocalized).
Raindrops, that are not pure water, they contain salts that dissociate into positive and negative ions. The positively charged ions, can bind to the rich in graphene surface.
The new system, for now, converts about 6.5 percent of the energy it gets, in comparison to 22 percent of the world’s better solar panels.
Image credit Wiley-VCH, Tang et al.
source Wiley Online Library
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