Solar energy is one of the sustainable sources of energy that can generate power easily. New research has unveiled a way to store this energy in a chemical liquid.
Currently, fossil fuel is the key source to generate power or electricity, but human civilization is searching for an alternative to this source. Solar energy is the best potential alternative. People on earth are trying to get rid of the bad effects of greenhouse gas and the Sun can provide that opportunity.
Phys.org reported that a group of researchers at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg, Sweden has discovered a new way to store solar energy. The research team has demonstrated the process to store the energy in the bonds of a chemical liquid. They used the "molecular solar thermal system".
The liquid chemical helps to store and transport the solar energy when necessary. To complete the whole process an organic compound named norbornadiene plays a key role. When the compound will be exposed to light, then it will be converted into quadricyclane.
The Royal Society of Chemistry reported the whole fact through the popular journal Energy & Environmental Science. The lead researcher Professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen has revealed that storage of solar energy is possible using the chemical bonds. The energy can be released as heat when it is required. Using the water heating solar panels with the chemical energy storage helps to convert a major portion of the incoming sunlight into power.
The initiative to create a way to store the solar energy began six years ago and the research team actively took part in 2013. That time the team used an expensive element ruthenium to complete the process and the conversion efficiency was 0.01 percent. Currently, the researchers are able to store 1.1 percent of the available incoming sunlight. The research team now uses carbon based elements that are much cheaper than the expensive ruthenium.
Professor Kasper Moth-Poulsen has opined that the new process to store the solar energy sustains minimum degradation. It also uncovers the way to build a more efficient process by developing the required molecules. This new success story brings a new dimension in the arena modern science.