admin We have witnessed what is claimed to the “perfect” solar energy absorber which was researched in the University of Rochester. Before this, they created unsinkable metallic structures and has now created out of the same technology, highly efficient solar power generators.
The paper was published in Light: Science & Applications on 4th February 2020. Chunlei Guo, the professor of optics who is also affiliated with Physics and the Material Sciences Program, described the Solar energy absorber which only absorbs light at a spectrum of solar wavelengths and not otherwise.
Any normal metal is very shiny and reflective. Guo’s lab developed a black metal technology that turned shiny metals pitch black.
He said, “But to make a perfect solar absorber. We need more than a black metal and the result is this selective absorber.”
This pitch-black surface reduces heat dissipation at other wavelengths and at the same time enhances the energy absorption from the sunlight. Guo says, “this making a perfect metallic solar absorber for the first time. We also demonstrated solar harnessing with a thermal electric generator device.”
He added, “This will be useful for any thermal solar energy absorber or harvesting device.”
His research and the whole work were funded by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the National Science Foundation and the Army Research Office. Guo’s team smartly altered a patch on the filament for the experiment and research purposes. Guo said, “We fired the laser beam right through the glass of the bulb and altered a patch on the filament. When we lit the bulb, we could actually see this one patch was clearly brighter than the rest of the filament.”
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