[ad_1]
A team of researchers from the University of California at Los Angeles has created a unique device capable of generating electricity from snowfall, a scientific paper reported, citing an article published in the journal Nano Technology.
The device is basically a greatly improved weather station which, in addition to measuring the amount of snow falling at any time, the direction and speed of the wind, can convert the power of the snow using the principles of the production of snow. ;static electricity.
Researchers have termed their creation as a triboelectric nanogenerator based on snow, or snow TENG, and the lead author of Professor of Paper, Chemistry and Biochemistry Richard Kaner, explains it as: "The electricity Static results from the interaction of a material that captures electrons and another that gives up electrons.You separate the charges and create electricity from scratch. "
In fact, it's a little more than nothing. Snowflakes carry a positive charge, while silicon, used for the surface of the device, is negatively charged. When the snow falls on the silicone surface, the contact generates an electrical charge and the camera captures it.
This looks deceptively simple, but the creators of the device did not go straight to the silicone. "While the snow likes to give up electrons, the performance of the device depends on the efficiency of the other material to extract these electrons," says the co-author of the study, postdoctoral researcher Maher El-Kady, quoted by Nano Magazine. "After testing a lot of materials, including aluminum foil and teflon, we found that silicone produced more charge than any other material."
While the state in which the device was created will probably not be the best place for its deployment, there are many parts of the world where snow frequently falls and where the TENG broadcast could potentially have a future as a generator. But what is more fascinating is that, according to El-Kady, this device could be added to solar panels and help increase their efficiency.
Related: Oil could drop to $ 40 if OPEC abandons its market
In cold weather, solar panels are no problem. In fact, they work more efficiently in cold weather because the heat affects their operation. But they have a snow problem. Photovoltaic panels convert sunlight into energy and if their access is blocked by a build-up of snow, they can no longer function.
Even though the solar panel panels are mounted at an angle allowing rain and snow to slide on the panels, thereby freeing the sun from access to the surface, with heavy snowfall, this becomes unnecessary and the rate efficiency of panels decreases sharply. This problem has recently emerged in the United States, in states with fairly severe winter conditions, with blizzards and snowstorms that have temporarily reduced the efficiency of some solar parks to zero.
This small device, the TENG on snow, could solve this problem for the solar energy sector, making panels reliable whatever the weather and increasing the reach of solar in previously unattractive places where it There was little sun but a lot of snow, combining the benefits of cold and static electricity.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
More from Reading Oilprice.com:
Source link
