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Underwater Solar Cells Successfully Tested in South China Sea
Confirmed
In Short: A team led by Simin Ma at Yunnan University has successfully tested perovskite solar cells in the South China Sea, potentially revolutionizing the way underwater devices are powered.
A team of researchers from Yunnan University has successfully tested perovskite solar cells in the South China Sea, marking a significant step forward in underwater energy technology. These cells, designed to function in water, have shown promise in generating electricity even at depths where sunlight is scarce.
Perovskite solar cells, while cheaper and more flexible than traditional silicon cells, face challenges such as moisture sensitivity. However, the study, published in the Cell Press journal Joule, demonstrated that these cells could operate effectively at depths of around 10 meters, generating enough electricity to charge lithium-ion batteries after just two hours.
Wen-Hua Zhang, the lead author of the study, highlighted the potential of this technology, stating, 'Very few studies have been reported on underwater solar cells, and all of them are focused on very shallow water depths of only two meters or less.' The researchers found that the cells were among the most efficient of their type at utilizing the limited light available underwater.
The successful experiment, conducted off China’s Weizhou Islands, provides strong evidence that solar power could operate at useful depths underwater, expanding the potential applications of this technology. Zhang added, 'The new work provides the first functional demonstration of submerged solar cells operating at a depth of around 10 meters, greatly expanding their potential applications.
Background
The South China Sea is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean. It is bounded in the north by South China, in the west by the Indochinese Peninsula, in the east by the islands of Taiwan and northwestern Philippines, and in the south by Borneo, eastern Sumatra, and the Bangka Belitung Islands, encompassing an area of around 3,500,000 km2 (1,400,000 sq mi).
What's confirmed
- A team of researchers from Yunnan University has successfully tested perovskite solar cells in the South China Sea, marking a significant step forward in underwater energy technology. These cells, designed to function in water, have shown promise in generating electricity even at depths where sunlight is scarce.
- Perovskite solar cells, while cheaper and more flexible than traditional silicon cells, face challenges such as moisture sensitivity. However, the study, published in the Cell Press journal Joule, demonstrated that these cells could operate effectively at depths of around 10 meters, generating enough electricity to charge lithium-ion batteries after just two hours.
- Wen-Hua Zhang, the lead author of the study, highlighted the potential of this technology, stating, 'Very few studies have been reported on underwater solar cells, and all of them are focused on very shallow water depths of only two meters or less.' The researchers found that the cells were among the most efficient of their type at utilizing the limited light available underwater.
- The successful experiment, conducted off China’s Weizhou Islands, provides strong evidence that solar power could operate at useful depths underwater, expanding the potential applications of this technology. Zhang added, 'The new work provides the first functional demonstration of submerged solar cells operating at a depth of around 10 meters, greatly expanding their potential applications.
What's still developing
- Shark aboard a submarine without solar energy to recharge his powers.
- Solar cells made from perovskites rather than silicon are always a tale of trade-offs.
- They can be made cheaply, they can take interesting forms (like thin, flexible, transparent films), and they can convert substantially more of the incoming solar energy into electricity.
- Moisture is particularly destructive to perovskites, making them a seemingly odd choice for an underwater solar panel.
- Water quickly blocks the wavelengths of light that silicon solar panels absorb, but a carefully designed perovskite cell could still make electricity in the deep blue sea.
- Zhang said the combination of laboratory experiments and field tests provided strong evidence that underwater photovoltaic systems can operate outside carefully controlled conditions.
- Ten metres beneath the surface of the South China Sea, where sunlight is already much weaker than it is above the water, researchers attached solar cells to underwater robots and waited to see what would happen.
- Solar panels have transformed the way electricity can be generated on land, but moving the technology underwater presents a fundamental challenge: water rapidly absorbs sunlight.