How Mixing Oils and Titanium Improve Hybrid Solar Systems

Jenn Hoskins
16th January, 2024

Image Source: Natural Science News, 2024

Have you ever wondered how we can harness the sun's power more efficiently to keep our gadgets running and our homes powered? Well, some smart folks over at the Energy and Environment Laboratory of the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon are doing just that by giving solar panels a bit of a boost. What they've come up with is this nifty hybrid between traditional photovoltaic (PV) panels—you know, the regular solar panels you see on roofs—and a system that can also capture heat from the sun. This is called a photovoltaic/thermal (PV/T) system, and it's like getting two types of energy for the price of one. Now, these systems use something called a heat transfer fluid (HTF) to snag that extra thermal energy. HTFs can be pretty much any fluid that sucks up the heat well—like water, for instance. But the researchers didn't stop there; they got creative and used different liquids—like oils you might find in the kitchen or some fancy synthetic oils—and infused them with tiny particles of something called titanium dioxide (TiO2). It sounds like a mouthful, but these particles are kind of a big deal because they amp up the system's efficiency. They ran a bunch of simulations through a program they wrote in Matlab. Think of it as a virtual laboratory where they could tinker with their PV/T system without having to actually build it every time they wanted to try something new. By playing around with different combinations of fluids and those all-important TiO2 particles, they essentially tried to find the superhero team-up that would give us the most bang for our buck. You might think that soaking up all that sun would cause the panels to get super hot, but here's the kicker: using a combination of cottonseed oil and TiO2, they managed to keep the temperature of the PV cells under a comfy 36°C—that's cooler than a summer day in some places! And let's be honest, who doesn't like staying cool while working hard? The solar panels sure do, as it turns out this setup improves their electric mojo by more than 12% compared to the usual panels that just produce electricity. But why stop at better performance? These configurations, especially the one with a synthetic oil called therminolVP-1 mixed with TiO2, could make the cost of energy ridiculously cheaper—think something like a third of what people in Cameroon are paying now for electricity. They even found that a system using palm oil could generate energy at a cost of just 3 cents, with a neat bonus of paying for itself in under six years. Sweet deal, right? To top it all off, the entire system is pretty green, too. The palm oil setup would only emit about 7.78 kg of whatever not-so-nice stuff comes out when you're generating power. And since this whole idea is about using energy more wisely, they've got these cool metrics like the "reversibility index" and "exergy efficiency" that are sort of like scores measuring how much we're in harmony with Mother Nature's laws of thermodynamics. So, let's break it down: these hybrid solar systems can potentially keep your lights on for cheap, they're kind to the planet, and they'll have paid for themselves before your kid graduates high school. Not too shabby, huh? What's the big takeaway? If this research is anything to go by, develop a love for vegetable oils because they're not just for cooking anymore—they might just be the future of solar energy! Cheers to those researchers in Cameroon for cooking up something that's both clever and clean, all while keeping a sharp eye on the piggy bank. The sun's free, folks, and if they keep this up, tapping into it might be just as easy on the wallet.

Environment Sustainability Biotech

References

Main Study

1) Techno-economic and environmental analysis of a hybrid PV/T solar system based on vegetable and synthetic oils coupled with TiO2 in Cameroon.

Published 15th January, 2024

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24000

References

Main Study

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