A team of South Korean researchers say fish oil, better known as a miracle health supplement, could hold the key to creating the next generation of solar panels with "unprecedented" efficiency.
Researchers have found that fish oils and water-based emulsions placed in a filter on solar panels can capture ultraviolet light and convert it into heat energy. This increases the conversion efficiency of the panel.
“The emulsion technology is already well established” and is used in the cosmetics and food industries, among others, said Jae-won Lee, a professor at the Korea University of Marine and Ocean Sciences who led the study.
“Emulsion filters can therefore be easily implemented into existing systems,” he added.
Announcing the research findings today (Friday), the university said that photovoltaic (PV) modules used in solar panels have a conversion efficiency of less than 20% because they can only convert near-infrared wavelengths into electricity .
Other wavelengths simply heat the PV module, reducing its efficiency.
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To combat this problem, scientists have developed photovoltaic thermal (PVT) systems, which transfer the generated heat through a heat exchanger using a cooling fluid: air or liquid.
This cools the photovoltaic modules, thus increasing their efficiency, and the collected heat is used as thermal energy.
Scientists have also developed “decoupled” photovoltaic systems that use liquid filters placed on top of photovoltaic modules to capture wavelengths of sunlight that contribute minimally to electricity production. These include ultraviolet (UV), visible light and near infrared.
However, the university says that water, "a popular filter for liquids, cannot absorb ultraviolet rays."
Now a team of researchers led by Lee has found that a mixture of fish oil and water absorbs both infrared and ultraviolet radiation, “thereby increasing the energy harvesting potential of decoupled PVT systems.”
The university says the fish oil filter had a conversion efficiency of 84.4% compared to decoupled PVT systems using heat exchangers (70.9%) and water filters (79.3%). ). This reduced the module temperature from 46.7°C to 33.1°C.
The researchers found that their system can also adapt to weather conditions. “For example, in summer the liquid in the liquid filter can be bypassed to maximize electricity production, while in winter the liquid filter can capture thermal energy for heating.”
