Page 58 - Energize May 2022

TECHNICAL

Converting stored solar energy to

electricity on demand

The researchers who developed an energy system which can capture solar energy, store it for up to 18
years and release it when and where it is needed, have now taken the system a step further.

INFORMATION FROM CHAMBERS UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY

fter previously demonstrating how the
energy can be extracted as heat, they
Ahave now succeeded in getting the
system to produce electricity, by connecting it
to a thermoelectric generator. Eventually, the
research – developed at Chalmers University
of Technology in Sweden – could lead to self-
charging electronics using stored solar energy
on demand.
“This is a radically new way of generating
electricity from solar energy. It means that
we can use solar energy to produce electricity
regardless of weather, time of day, season,
or geographical location. It is a closed system
that can operate without causing carbon
Figure 1: Isomer can be stored in liquid form
dioxide emissions,” says research leader,
Chalmers University Prof. Kasper Moth- Jiao Tong University, where the energy was released and converted into electricity using
Poulsen. the generator they developed there. Essentially, Swedish sunshine was sent to the other
The new storage technology is based side of the world and converted into electricity in China.
on a solar energy system called “MOST”
(Molecular Solar Thermal Energy), developed Ultra-thin chip converts heat into electricity
at Chalmers University of Technology. Very “The generator is an ultra-thin chip that could be integrated into electronics such as
simply, its basis is a specially designed headphones, smart watches and telephones. So far, we have only generated small
molecule which changes shape when it amounts of electricity, but the new results show that the concept really works. It looks
comes into contact with sunlight. The very promising,” says researcher Zhihang Wang from Chalmers University of Technology.
research attracted great interest worldwide
when it was presented at earlier stages in
development.
The new study, published in Cell
Reports Physical Science and carried out in
collaboration with researchers in Shanghai,
takes the solar energy system a step further,
detailing how it can be combined with a
compact thermoelectric generator to convert
solar energy into electricity

Swedish sunshine was sent to the
other side of the world and converted
into electricity in China
The Swedish researchers sent their specially
designed molecule, loaded with solar energy,
to colleagues Tao Li and Zhiyu Hu at Shanghai Figure 2: Thermoelectric generator

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