With solar panels losing their ability to generate electricity after sunset, the main challenge facing renewable solar energy is how to store it for later use, whether during cloudy weather or overnight.
To solve this problem, a team of scientists at the University of California, Santa Barbara, worked to develop a new liquid material capable of storing sunlight as if it were a rechargeable battery. It stores sunlight inside ultra-small particles and releases it later in the form of heat, even long after sunset.
Scientists expect this innovation to open the door to large-scale solutions for solar energy storage. This enhances reliance on clean energy even in the absence of sunlight.
In addition, this technology can be used in homes, factories and national electricity grids; To provide a sustainable and stable source of energy, thus reducing dependence on fossil fuels and contributing to confronting the climate crisis.
Regarding the idea and goal of the innovation and the study published in the journal Science, doctoral student Grace Han, the lead author of the study, said in her statements to Al Jazeera Net: “Imagine color-changing sunglasses. When you are indoors, their lenses are transparent, and when you go out into the sun, they become dark on their own, and when you return indoors, the lenses become transparent again, and therefore this type of reverse change is what interests us in the idea of the solar battery, as instead of changing the color, we want to use the idea “It stores energy itself, releases it when needed, and then reuses the material over and over again.”
Relationship with DNA
The research team was inspired by the idea of storing solar energy from the molecule pyrimidone, which is a natural organic component of DNA that can reversibly change its structure when exposed to ultraviolet radiation.
“Computational studies conducted by Professor Hook’s team at UCLA have shown that the pyrimidone molecule has a calculated energy density of 215 kJ/mol, and this presents an opportunity to use the molecule to store solar thermal energy,” says Hahn.
Based on this, the team designed a molecule capable of storing energy and releasing it repeatedly. They designed the “pyrimidone” molecule to act as a microscopic, rechargeable battery. This innovation belongs to a category of technologies known as “molecular solar thermal energy storage.”
Instead of using the photoelectric effect to convert light into electricity directly, this technology relies on absorbing light and converting it into stable chemical potential energy. This molecule can also store energy for years, and contains more energy per kilogram than lithium-ion batteries.
Han says in her statements to Al Jazeera Net: “When the pyrimidone molecule is exposed to sunlight, it acts as a photocatalyst, as this process converts photon energy into stored chemical potential energy. This energy is later released in the form of heat.”
She adds: “We prioritized designing a lightweight, compact molecule. In this project, we eliminated everything we didn’t need. Anything unnecessary, we removed to make the molecule as small as possible.”
Regarding the future prospects of this innovation, Han told Al Jazeera Net: “Current efforts are focusing on expanding the absorption range of the pyrimidone compound to capture a wider portion of the solar spectrum.”
“This work is being conducted in collaboration with Professor Hooke’s team at UCLA, whose quantum chemical calculations and computational screening methodologies are systematically identifying optimal candidate molecules. Other applications are still being evaluated depending on progress towards these fundamental goals.”
