Solar panels have been the most popular type of harvesting clean energy but they aren’t without any kind of limitations. They are most effective in bright, direct daylight so overcast and rainy days will limit energy efficiency.

HIGHLIGHTS
Solar panels have limitations even after being popular in harvesting clean energy
A breakthrough in technology that lead to solar panels working during night as well
Different researchers are testing ways to harness thermal energy during nights 

A team of researchers, along with researchers from the School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering at UNSW Sydney and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Exciton Science, have created a breakthrough in infrared technology that would cause the development of solar panels that work at night.

Following a significant advancement in thermal capture technology, the sun’s energy will soon be captured even during the dead of night. Well the solar radiation greatly warms the earth’s crust during the day and once the sun sets that heat gets lost within the icy depths of space.

The researchers got themselves ready to run a successful test on a device, known as thermo-radiative diode. This device therefore converts infrared heat into electricity. Well according to the researchers, the thermo-radiative diode is as same as the technology which is used for night-vision eyeglasses. The study got published in ACS Photonics on May 9th.

The leader of the analysis team, Exciton Science Associate Investigator Nicholas Ekins-Daukes has said: “In the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century it had been discovered that the efficiency of steam engines were depended on the temperature difference across the engine, and the field of thermodynamics was born. Well the same principles will be applied to solar power– the sun therefore, provides the hot source and a comparatively cooler solar panel on the Earth’s surface which provides a cold absorber. This permits the electricity to get produced out of it. However, when we think about the infrared emission from the Earth into our outer space, it's currently the earth that has relatively heat body, with the large void of space being extremely cold. Well, by the same principles of thermodynamics, it is therefore, possible to generate electricity from this temperature difference too: the emission of infrared light into space.”

The quantity of energy that is produced in the tests is incredibly small as compared to solar panel output, which is about 0.001%. However it shows certain hope in developing solar panels that may produce energy, even during the night. For now, the team has been doing more research and form industry partnerships.

“We have considered the emission of sunshine as something that could consume power, but definitely within the mid-infrared, where we have been glowing with radiant energy, we have been shown that it is possible to extract electric power,” Ekins-Daukes have said. “We literally don't have that miracle material which could create the thermo-radiative diode as an everyday reality, but we have come up with a proof of principle and are eager to see whether we can improve on this result in the upcoming years.”

Well, these are not the only scientists who are looking to create solar panels that would operate for 24/7. Rune Strandberg, a researcher from Norway, was the one who had explored this possibility first. Currently, researchers at Stanford University have been also testing different alternate ways of harnessing thermal energy during the dark.

Also Read: Chinese scientists construct a 'artificial moon' on Earth to test lunar exploration technology.