Solar Energy
Innovative solar-powered clothing offers dynamic temperature regulation
Innovative solar-powered clothing offers dynamic temperature regulation
by Simon Mansfield
Sydney, Australia (SPX) Dec 18, 2023
In a significant advancement for wearable technology, researchers have developed a novel solar-powered clothing system capable of providing personal heating and cooling. This groundbreaking innovation, detailed in a recent study, integrates a flexible solar cell with an electrocaloric device to dynamically adapt the body’s temperature to changing environmental conditions. This technology is poised to enhance human comfort and safety in fluctuating temperatures and could be particularly beneficial in extreme environments, including outer space and other planets.
Traditional clothing has primarily been designed to either warm or cool the wearer, but it often struggles to adapt quickly to rapid temperature changes, especially in harsh climates like polar regions, deserts, or the vacuum of space. Current thermoregulatory clothing technologies fall into two categories: passive systems, including radiative cooling and phase change systems, and active systems that offer rapid temperature adjustments but at the cost of high power demands and bulky equipment.
Addressing these limitations, the team led by Ziyuan Wang has developed an innovative all-day, solar-powered bidirectional thermoregulatory clothing system. Wang et al.’s design ingeniously combines an organic photovoltaic module with a bidirectional electrocaloric unit into a single, flexible device. This integration allows the system to be woven into conventional clothing, eliminating the need for additional power sources as it is self-powered through sunlight.
This new clothing technology offers substantial benefits in temperature regulation. On hot days, the device can cool the skin by 10.1 Kelvin (K), while at night or in dark conditions, it can provide an additional 3.2 K of warmth. Impressively, it maintains human skin temperature within the comfortable range of 32.0C to 36.0C, even when environmental temperatures vary between 12.5C and 37.6C. The device’s high efficiency ensures 24-hour controllable thermoregulation with just 12 hours of sunlight energy input.
Xingyi Huang and Pengli Li, in a related Perspective, emphasize the potential of Wang et al.’s integrated device. They note that it “opens many possibilities for developing actively controlled, self-powered and wearable localized thermal-management systems” and underscores its role in “expanding human adaptation to harsh environments.” They also speculate on a future where such technology not only provides all-weather thermal management but could also harness extra energy to power electronic devices under special conditions.
Research Report:Self-sustaining personal all-day thermoregulatory clothing using only sunlight
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DGIST enhances quantum dot solar cell performance
by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Oct 04, 2024
A research team led by Professor Jongmin Choi from the Department of Energy Science and Engineering at DGIST, in collaboration with Gyeongsang National University’s Professor Tae Kyung Lee and Kookmin University’s Professor Younghoon Kim, has developed a new method that significantly boosts the performance and longevity of perovskite quantum dot solar cells. Their innovative approach addresses a key issue: surface distortions on quantum dots that hinder solar cell efficiency.
Perovskite quantum dots are widely regarded as essential for next-generation solar cells due to their high light-to-electricity conversion efficiency and scalability. However, the process of replacing the “ligands” on their surface often causes distortions, akin to crumpled paper, that degrade solar cell performance.
The research team tackled this problem by introducing short ligands that firmly grip both sides of the quantum dots. This method effectively restores the quantum dot’s distorted surface, resembling the process of flattening crumpled paper. By smoothing the surface, they significantly reduced defects and improved both the performance and the stability of the solar cells. The power conversion efficiency rose from 13.6% to 15.3%, and the cells maintained 83% of their performance over 15 days, marking a major advancement in solar cell technology.
“Through this research, we could minimize surface defects on the quantum dots and stabilize their surfaces by newly adopting these amphiphilic ligands, thereby significantly improving the efficiency and stability of the solar cells,” explained Professor Jongmin Choi. He also noted the team’s intention to extend this approach to other photoelectric devices in the future.
This study, a collaborative effort by DGIST, Gyeongsang National University, and Kookmin University, was supported by the National Research Council of Science and Technology, the DGIST R and D Program, and the New Faculty Research Foundation at Gyeongsang National University. The findings were published in the ‘Chemical Engineering Journal’ on September 15, 2024.
Research Report:Multifaceted anchoring ligands for uniform orientation and enhanced cubic-phase stability of perovskite quantum dots
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Philippines’ Marcos opens first EV battery plant
by AFP Staff Writers
Manila (AFP) Sept 30, 2024
President Ferdinand Marcos inaugurated on Monday the first factory for electric vehicle batteries in the Philippines, calling it the “future” of clean energy.
The Australian-owned lithium-iron-phosphate factory aims to produce two gigawatt-hours of batteries per year by 2030, powering about 18,000 electric vehicles or nearly half a million home battery systems.
“We have worked very hard and tried to do our best to bring this kind of technology to the Philippines with a clear recognition that this is the future,” Marcos said in a livestreamed speech.
“As the first manufacturing plant in the Philippines for advanced iron phosphate batteries… (it) sets the stage for the Philippines to become a player in clean energy storage in our part of the world.”
Located in New Clark city north of Manila, the StB Giga Factory Inc. facility will create 2,500 local jobs and channel five billion pesos ($89.2 million) into the economy each year, Marcos said.
The investment aligns with the government’s efforts to “transition our country to renewable energy”, and would help Manila “entice more investors in renewable energy facilities in the country”, he added.
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Fire breaks out at Chinese battery giant CATL plant
by AFP Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Sept 29, 2024
A fire broke out Sunday at a factory belonging to Chinese battery giant CATL, which supplies electric vehicle makers including Tesla, but only a “relatively small” impact on operations is expected, the company said.
A CATL spokesperson said no injuries or casualties had occurred at the plant in the coastal city of Ningde, and that “the reasons behind this accident are still under investigation”.
Emergency services were sent to the plant to fight the fire and to organise the evacuation of any people who were inside the 15,000 square metre (160,000 square feet) site, a statement by the Dongqiao Economic and Technological Development Zone said.
Firefighters were alerted to the blaze just before 11:30 AM local time (0330 GMT).
It was not immediately clear what was produced at the plant, CATL’s base in the eastern province of Fujian, but the company said the effect of the now extinguished fire would not be significant.
“The impact to CATL’s overall production operation is relatively small,” the spokesperson said.
Videos published by the Chinese business media outlet Cailianshe, and posted on the Weibo social network, showed parts of a large white building in flames with thick gray smoke rising into the air.
AFP could not immediately verify the authenticity of the images.
CATL was founded in 2011 and produces more than a third of the electric vehicle batteries sold worldwide for automakers that include Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Toyota, Honda and Hyundai.
ehl-reb/des
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