Writer: Minal Jain

Solar batteries work by storing energy produced by your solar panels for later use. For example, when your solar panels aren’t producing electricity at night, you can use the energy stored earlier in your battery.

But before you rush out to buy your solar kit, bear in mind that solar batteries are quite expensive, big and heavy, and need specialized inverters.

For decades, scientists have sought an affordable and effective way of capturing, storing, and releasing solar energy. One new innovation in that field comes from scientists at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg. They have created an energy trapping molecule, which can capture solar energy and keep it in reserve, so it can be released, on demand, in the form of heat. How this works is that Molecule A absorbs solar energy and is photochemically transformed into Molecule B, which in turn, spontaneously, at a certain rate, gives energy back, in the form of heat. The benefit over traditional solar batteries is that this molecule can store the energy for decades after capturing it, and unlike batteries which need rare or exclusive elements like cobalt, this molecule system is based on carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, making it more affordable.

For now, this solar molecule can only be used to emit heat. One of the uses of these molecules is to integrate them into windows. A window brings heat into the room, while at the same time, it could heat up the room too much. Integrating the molecules into the windows would result in some of the heat getting absorbed by the molecules during the day, keeping the temperature down, while releasing this stored heat during the night, to raise the temperature. This technology would be ideal for heating residential and commercial homes and smaller spaces like vehicles too. This method also does not damage the molecule and means it can be used all year round.

The scientists believe that the potential exists for this system to produce electricity as well in the future.

All such innovations will hopefully make solar power more accessible to all demographics and more viable for governments and individuals.

Source:
https://www.moth-poulsen.com/
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-11-04/moth-poulsen-s-energy-trapping-molecule-could-solve-solar-storage
https://www.energysage.com/solar/solar-energy-storage
https://www.greenmatch.co.uk/blog/2014/08/5-advantages-and-5-disadvantages-of-solar-energy

Image Source:
https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/innovation-2019-new-solar-battery-uses-shape-shifting-chemical

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