New Solar Cell Topology Splits Water For Potential Fuel Cell Use, Higher Efficiency Solar Power - Polidicks

[QUOTE]Using a simple solar cell and a photo anode made of a metal oxide, HZB and TU Delft scientists have successfully stored nearly five percent of solar energy chemically in the form of hydrogen. This is a major feat as the design of the solar cell is much simpler than that of the high-efficiency triple-junction cells based on amorphous silicon or expensive III-V semiconductors that are traditionally used for this purpose. The photo anode, which is made from the metal oxide bismuth vanadate (BiVO4) to which a small amount of tungsten atoms was added, was sprayed onto a piece of conducting glass and coated with an inexpensive cobalt phosphate catalyst[/QUOTE] [QUOTE]"Basically, we combined the best of both worlds," explains Prof. Dr. Roel van de Krol, head of the HZB Institute for Solar Fuels: "We start with a chemically stable, low cost metal oxide, add a really good but simple silicon-based thin film solar cell, and -- voilà -- we've just created a cost-effective, highly stable, and highly efficient solar fuel device."[/QUOTE] They've managed to get a power output of 600W/m^2, which is equivalent to ~48% solar efficiency (The Solar Power Output at Sea Level is 1350W/m^2). Needless to say its the most efficient solar power device yet. :eng101: [QUOTE] At a solar performance in Germany of roughly 600 Watts per square meter, 100 square meters of this type of system is theoretically capable of storing 3 kilowatt hours of energy in the form of hydrogen in just one single hour of sunshine. This energy could then be available at night or on cloudy days.[/QUOTE] [URL="http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/07/130729111927.htm"]SOURCE[/URL]

Can someone tell me the previous efficiency?

Now we need a higher density and safer storage system for hydrogen, those metal hydride canisters don't hold much, and pressurized containers are dangerous as hell. Also jesus fuck, 48% efficiency? I thought the highest a solar cell could get was 20%.

[QUOTE=zakedodead;41705428]Can someone tell me the previous efficiency?[/QUOTE] Absolutely fucking pathetic. With the current panels if you want to power an electric car off nothing but the sun you need to build it superlight, super flat and super long, then coat literally every surface that can possibly face the sun in panels. Even then your top speed is laughable, 35-40MPH at most, and you have no acceleration whatsoever because of how tiny the motor has to be to not overdraw them. With these new panels you could get away with covering the roof of a hatchback to achieve the same performance. Layering the roof of a Nissan Leaf with these new cells would allow you to drive the thing fairly normally during daylight hours without being chained to the wall as long as you didn't haul more ass than a semi truck full of donkeys. Might actually help make EVs quasi-practical. [editline]4th August 2013[/editline] [QUOTE=zombini;41705436] and pressurized containers are dangerous as hell.[/quote] lol no they aren't. They're incredibly tough. They're some of the toughest things mankind has ever built. They absolutely laugh at pistol bullets and veeeery rarely fail. People have used such tanks to power propane fueled cars for decades with no issues whatsoever.

So is it efficient enough to have a higher lifetime output of electricity than it takes to make it?

[QUOTE=TestECull;41705877] lol no they aren't. They're incredibly tough. They're some of the toughest things mankind has ever built. They absolutely laugh at pistol bullets and veeeery rarely fail. People have used such tanks to power propane fueled cars for decades with no issues whatsoever.[/QUOTE] The containers themselves are incredibly strong, the valves not so much. There's always going to be a weakness where the tank interfaces with whatever uses the gas, and in any kind of high speed collision that's going to be the place that fails. You can of course just reinforce the shit out of everything but the safer you make it the heavier it gets.

[QUOTE=zombini;41705436]Now we need a higher density and safer storage system for hydrogen, those metal hydride canisters don't hold much, and pressurized containers are dangerous as hell.[/QUOTE] You know you can store hydrogen in a solid state right? If a solid state hydrogen container is ruptured there's no explosion or anything, it's totally harmless

[QUOTE=zakedodead;41705428]Can someone tell me the previous efficiency?[/QUOTE] I think it's like 18% or something like that.

[QUOTE=Zeke129;41705949]The containers themselves are incredibly strong, the valves not so much. There's always going to be a weakness where the tank interfaces with whatever uses the gas, and in any kind of high speed collision that's going to be the place that fails. You can of course just reinforce the shit out of everything but the safer you make it the heavier it gets.[/QUOTE] And the decades upon decades of use of such containers to store LPG/propane for use in vehicles running on such fuels is proof enough that they're safe. Some police departments use LPG for their squad cars for fuck's sake. Compressed gas canisters are not ticking time bombs. There's no reason to spread fear about them. It takes a LOT to damage one enough to leak, nevermind enough to be a hazard. They're safer than the gasoline tanks currently used in cars by a mile.

A lot of public buses use LPG and LNG too. [editline]4th August 2013[/editline] San Antonio has public buses that run on basically everything. I've seen electrics, hydrogens, LPG's, LNG's... the list goes on.

Too bad all this takes so long to get to personal use, there is real money saving potential for the average joe in this.

[QUOTE=zombini;41705436]Now we need a higher density and safer storage system for hydrogen, those metal hydride canisters don't hold much, and pressurized containers are dangerous as hell. Also jesus fuck, 48% efficiency? I thought the highest a solar cell could get was 20%.[/QUOTE] So far we've been able to make multijunction solar cells with efficiencies up to 44%, however most commercial solar cells run at about ~25% [img_thumb]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Best_Research-Cell_Efficiencies.png[/img_thumb] [QUOTE=Orki;41707574]Too bad all this takes so long to get to personal use, there is real money saving potential for the average joe in this.[/QUOTE] For this, yes, however [URL="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQANDuFYvsc"]graphene is easy to make even for the DIYer[/URL]. So I wont be surprised to see some graphene solar cells using DIY methods in the future (So far we've already had some pretty ingenious devices using such simple methods)

[QUOTE=Elspin;41705968]You know you can store hydrogen in a solid state right? If a solid state hydrogen container is ruptured there's no explosion or anything, it's totally harmless[/QUOTE] That's what a metal hydride canister is, it stores the hydrogen within the metallic material inside of the canister.