Gizmos & Gadgets: What if We Could Capture All the Energy Produced by the Sun and Deliver it 24/7?

December 27, 2019 – Last month researchers at the University of Houston came up with a new invention that is a hybrid solar power generator and thermal storage device. Not only does it captures energy from light but stores it as well in the form of heat. Its harvesting efficiency is better than 80% at night and higher (90%) during the day, well beyond what the best combination solar panel and battery storage devices can do today.

Seen in the illustration below, the hybrid power and storage device combines molecular energy and latent heat storage into 24/7 energy output. In other words, if the Sun “don’t shine,” this baby keeps on putting out power. It should prove useful for power generation, distillation, and desalination applications.

A description of the research was reported in Joule, a journal that focuses on the latest science and engineering energy research. The technology combines the concepts of molecular energy and latent heat storage and provides energy around the clock. Stored energy at night reaches higher temperatures than during the day. The system acts as a solar energy store while also making it available to power devices.

The high efficiency of the new device comes from its ability to capture the full spectrum of sunlight and harvesting it for immediate use while converting the excess to molecular energy storage. The synthesized material used is made from norbornadiene-quadricyclane, providing for molecular storage. It is an organic compound with high specific energy and an ability to retain stable heat over long periods of time.

The uniqueness of the device comes from its ability to store the solar energy that it collects in a molecular form rather than as heat. The single integrated system reduces the energy stored because nothing is transferred through or by another medium to another device so there is little to no latent energy loss.

Stated T. Randall Lee, Professor of Chemistry, at the University of Houston, “During the day, the solar thermal energy can be harvested at temperatures as high as 120 degrees centigrade (about 248 Fahrenheit) …. At night, when there is low or no solar irradiation, the stored energy is harvested by the molecular storage material, which can convert it from a lower energy molecule to a higher energy molecule.” That’s why the device produces thermal-generated energy at higher temperatures overnight than during the day.

The device holds promise for utilities and power consumers because with its dual capability of generating power directly from sunlight while storing excess energy as heat for later release it solves the limitations inherent in relying on the intermittency of solar energy.