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The US scientists have made photovoltaic cells that work underground using what they call the world’s first 3D solar panel system.
According to ABC Science, this innovation is taking solar panels off the roofs of homes and cars, and shifting them under the house and into the walls.
The new panels could provide solar power while protecting the delicate photovoltaics at the same time.
“No one wants to buy a big, nice, fancy car with a huge solar panel on the roof,” said Dr Zhong Wang of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
The system catches sunlight and turns it into electricity using fibre optics cables coated with zinc oxide in lieu of conventional solar panels. The fibre optic cables, each one two to three times the width of a human, can be set up on the roof of a house, car or any other structure. Only the tip of the cables would be exposed outside.
Light enters the tip of the fibre and traverses to the end. The light is absorbed and turned into electrical energy along the way.
After reaching the end of the fibre, the light traverses back, giving the zinc oxide one more opportunity to absorb any light missed during the first pass. The fibres can be cut to any length depending on the needs of the user. A 10-cm fibre would generate about 0.5 V.
Despite the fibres being small, they are not quite efficient. At present, they convert about 3.3% of all the light that enters them into electricity.
Wang feels that additional work on this could get this number up to 8%.
