Solar Energy
Lunar solar experiment build completed despite challenges
NASA is one step closer to understanding the solar power challenges and opportunities on the Moon’s surface after completing the build and readiness review of the Photovoltaic Investigation on the Lunar Surface, or PILS, experiment. The agency overcame multiple engineering challenges to get the experiment ready for integration with a commercial lander for a ride to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
“NASA’s last opportunity to use solar power on the surface of the Moon was 50 years ago during Apollo,” said Matt DeMinico, the PILS project manager. “It’s exciting to send a first of its kind experiment, like PILS, to the lunar surface to prove state-of-the-art space solar cells and high-voltage solar arrays for future exploration missions, and we’re ready to begin the lander integration process with Astrobotic.”
Building an in-space experiment is difficult under any conditions, but the PILS team successfully completed the build and in-house testing under strict coronavirus safety precautions. In March, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, along with the much of the agency, moved to mandatory telework in response to the ongoing pandemic to ensure the health and safety of its workforce, thus halting the PILS build and pre-flight testing.
In the months since, mission-critical work was slowly able to resume, allowing the PILS team to return to their laboratories and complete all remaining work. The team adjusted planned activities and tests to align with the necessary safety protocols and limited the number of members on-site.
“Working on-site while much of the center is still teleworking is a bit strange mostly because it is much quieter than I am used to,” said Jeremiah McNatt, one of the PILS principal investigators. “Luckily we were able to safely keep moving forward and kept the broader team updated on daily activities through video chats and virtual meetings.”
The PILS platform, while relatively small and lightweight, will provide a flight demonstration of multiple solar cell technologies from multiple companies that could be used for future lunar missions. This solar charging experiment will be help in the design of high voltage solar arrays on the surface that may be used to power in-situ resource utilization systems and other lunar surface assets.
The PILS experiment is targeted to fly later this year as one of 11 NASA payloads on an Astrobotic Peregrine lander. Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines both were selected to fly several NASA science investigations and technology demonstrations to the Moon this year. The delivery of these payloads is the first of many ahead of human return to the Moon and are all part of the Artemis program. Ultimately, PILS will help establish baseline requirements and capabilities for future solar power generation systems for the Moon and, eventually, Mars.
“”PILS is just the first step in better understanding the environment in which solar arrays and power systems will exist on the Moon as we work towards powering a sustainable, long-term human-lunar presence there,” says Tim Peshek, PILS co-principal investigator.
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Huge US lithium mine gets govt approval
By Romain FONSEGRIVES
Los Angeles, United States (AFP) Oct 24, 2024
An enormous lithium mine in the Nevada desert was granted final government approval Thursday in a project the miner predicts will quadruple US production of a mineral critical to the renewable energy revolution.
Operations at Rhyolite Ridge will produce enough lithium to supply the batteries for more than 370,000 electric vehicles every year, Australian operator Ioneer said.
The plant will create 500 construction jobs over the next few years and 350 jobs during its decades of extraction, the company said.
“There are few deposits in the world as impactful as Rhyolite Ridge,” said Ioneer Executive Chairman James Calaway, heralding the permit issued Thursday by the Bureau of Land Management.
The company’s managing director, Bernard Rowe, said construction would begin next year.
“This permit gives us a license to commence construction in 2025 and begin our work in creating hundreds of good-paying rural jobs, generating millions in tax revenue for Esmeralda County, and bolstering the domestic production of critical minerals,” he said.
The news comes less than two weeks before Americans go to the polls to elect a new president, and will be welcomed in Nevada, where unemployment is well above the national average.
The administration of President Joe Biden has made the green transition a key plank of its economic policy, investing heavily in technologies aimed at slashing the pollution that is causing the climate to change.
Scientists say electric vehicles are a vital link in that chain, and their widespread adoption in the car-dependent US will be vital if the country is to meet its carbon reduction targets.
Biden has tried to nudge the US auto industry to re-tool and shift production away from gas-guzzlers and into electric cars, in a move he says will help create jobs at home.
Subsidies for consumers have rewarded automakers who produce EVs in the United States, even while they struggle to source lithium batteries — a sector dominated by strategic rival China.
But the project at Rhyolite Ridge has highlighted the trade-off between the need to adapt energy sources and the desire to protect the planet’s biodiversity.
Campaigners say the mine will threaten the unique habitat of the endangered Tiehm’s Buckwheat — a rare wildflower with delicate cream-colored blossoms that grows only in this corner of Nevada.
“By greenlighting this mine the Bureau of Land Management is abandoning its duty to protect endangered species like Tiehm’s Buckwheat and it’s making a mockery of the Endangered Species Act,” said Patrick Donnelly of the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit conservation group.
“We need lithium for the energy transition, but it can’t come with a price tag of extinction.”
Ioneer admits that over the years the mine is in operation around a fifth of the flower’s habitat will be directly affected.
But the company, which has spent $2.5 million researching the plant, says mining will not affect its survival, insisting their experiments show it is already growing well in greenhouses.
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Eramet suspends battery recycling project in France
By Isabel MALSANG
Paris (AFP) Oct 24, 2024
French mining firm Eramet said Thursday it was suspending plans to build a battery recycling plant, the second such project in France to fall through in a month as the electric vehicle sector struggles.
Batteries for electric cars are packed with costly critical minerals and recycling these to lower costs and make them more sustainable is a key challenge.
Eramet was looking to build a facility that would have been able to separate the minerals out from the black powder that used batteries are initially transformed into.
While the sale of new internal combustion engine cars is supposed to end in Europe in just over a decade, the shift towards electric vehicles has seen a setback recently with consumer demand flagging.
Battery manufacturers have since put expansion plans on hold, with firms that aim to recycle used batteries now following suit.
“Due to the lack of ramp-up in Europe of battery factories and their components… there are currently major uncertainties about the supply of raw materials to the plant, and about recycling opportunities for the metallic salts,” Eramet said in a statement.
“The required conditions for pursuing a hydro- metallurgical battery recycling plant project in France are therefore not met, and the Group has decided to suspend the project,” it added.
Company officials said if the project went forward it would likely have to export the minerals to Asia, which would not make economic sense.
Eramet’s partner Suez said it would go forward with building a plant outside Paris to break down used car batteries.
Last month carmaker Stellantis and mining group Orano similarly shelved plans to develop a battery recycling facility in France.
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New efficiency record set for eco-friendly nanocrystal solar cells
by Erica Marchand
Paris, France (SPX) Oct 25, 2024
As climate change accelerates the shift towards renewable energy sources, solar cells are becoming increasingly vital. Solar power generation in Spain, for instance, grew by 28% in 2023 compared to the previous year, contributing to 20.3% of the country’s total energy mix. However, despite their widespread adoption, solar cells still rely on materials that are not always environmentally sustainable. Expanding solar technology to a broader range of applications, such as powering buildings, infrastructure, and vehicles, requires the development of flexible, lightweight, and cost-effective solar cells.
Colloidal silver bismuth sulfide (AgBiS2) nanocrystals have recently emerged as a promising eco-friendly material for ultra-thin solar cells. These nanocrystals possess an exceptionally high absorption coefficient, but current manufacturing techniques for such solar cells rely on multi-step processes that are costly and inefficient. A new single-step approach using nanocrystal inks could streamline production, but defects on the nanocrystal surfaces have limited efficiency.
To address this issue, researchers at the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), led by ICREA Prof. Gerasimos Konstantatos, have developed an innovative post-deposition in situ passivation (P-DIP) technique. This method enhances surface passivation, leading to nanocrystal ink films with superior optoelectronic properties. Their work, published in “Energy and Environmental Science”, achieved a power conversion efficiency of around 10%, surpassing the performance of previous AgBiS2-based solar cells.
Dr. Jae Taek Oh, the study’s first author, explained the importance of surface passivation: “Imagine a bumpy road that slows down cars. Surface passivation is like repaving the road, making it smoother so cars can move without getting stuck. In our case, the removal of surface defects is very important to facilitate the transportation of charge carriers created from light absorption in nanocrystal films.”
The research team’s P-DIP strategy improved the quality of the nanocrystal films by addressing surface defects, leading to a significant boost in efficiency. By using a multifunctional molecular agent containing chlorine, they were able to stabilize the nanocrystals and ensure even dispersion in the solution, which resulted in smooth film coatings and enhanced carrier transport.
This combination of techniques has set a new performance record for sustainable, eco-friendly solar cells.
Research Report:Post-deposition in situ passivation of AgBiS2 nanocrystal inks for high-efficiency ultra-thin solar cells
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The Institute of Photonic Sciences
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