300

'Solar leafs' outshine panels in UK breakthrough - Energy Live News (www.energylivenews.com)

submitted 1 year ago by bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works to c/technology@lemmy.world

28 comments fedilink hide all child comments

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] Transcendant@lemmy.world 24 points 1 year ago

It's not just a 10% increase in productivity, it produces fresh water as a byproduct:

Furthermore, the photovoltaic leaf is capable of synergistically utilising the recovered heat to co-generate additional thermal energy and freshwater simultaneously within the same component, significantly elevating the overall solar utilisation efficiency from 13.2% to over 74.5%, along with over 1.1 L/h/m2 of clean water.

[-] DaPorkchop_@lemmy.ml 8 points 1 year ago

where does the salt go? wouldn't it build up in the pipes and cause them to get clogged?

[-] IndefiniteBen@feddit.nl 3 points 1 year ago

Another commenter summarized the nature article linked in comments... Yes, the salt is left in the pipes, so they are flushed out at night to prevent buildup.

[-] Nioxic@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 year ago

Only if the water evaporates within the pipes?

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 6 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

1.1l/h/m2 ? That means 25m2 generate 27.5l/h so 660l a day. That's huge.

[-] sushibowl@feddit.nl 6 points 1 year ago

You're assuming full production for 24 hours a day, I don't think that's likely. Maybe 8 hours of full production a day under optimal conditions? Still, ~200 liters a day of potable water seems quite big for a 5x5 area of solar panels.

[-] Diabolo96@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 year ago

Yeah, my bad. Your estimate seems more likely.

[-] Sekki@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Thats pretty cool, although that is not even mentioned in the article unless Im missing something.

[-] bernieecclestoned@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 year ago

The article is extremely light on detail

That bleeping lobster linked the actual paper

https://lemmy.world/comment/2756145

this post was submitted on 24 Aug 2023

300 points (94.6% liked)

Technology

60130 readers

2746 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.

Our Rules

Follow the lemmy.world rules.
Only tech related content.
Be excellent to each another!
Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
Politics threads may be removed.
No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS