{"id":455466,"date":"2023-08-15T10:55:51","date_gmt":"2023-08-15T08:55:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/innovationorigins.com\/?p=455466"},"modified":"2023-08-15T10:55:51","modified_gmt":"2023-08-15T08:55:51","slug":"a-new-bio-inspired-solar-leaf-design-with-increased-harvesting-efficiency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/a-new-bio-inspired-solar-leaf-design-with-increased-harvesting-efficiency\/","title":{"rendered":"A new bio-inspired solar leaf design with increased harvesting efficiency"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Photovoltaic solar energy is obtained by converting sunshine into electricity \u2013 and researchers from Imperial Collge London <a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/news\/246833\/bio-inspired-solar-leaf-design-with-increased\/\">have developed<\/a> a new leaf-like design with increased efficiency. The new photovoltaic leaf (PV-leaf) technology uses low-cost materials and could inspire the next generation of renewable energy technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"io-block io-block__summary\"><ul><li>Researchers at Imperial College London have unveiled a novel leaf-inspired photovoltaic (PV) technology.<\/li><li>This innovative PV-leaf design generates over 10% more electricity compared to traditional solar panels.<\/li><\/ul><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>The new photovoltaic leaf (PV-leaf) technology could inspire the next generation of renewable energy technologies. A\u00a0series of experiments\u00a0has\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0that\u00a0a\u00a0PV-leaf\u00a0can generate\u00a0over\u00a010% more electricity compared to conventional\u00a0solar\u00a0panels, which lose\u00a0up to\u00a070% of\u00a0the\u00a0incoming\u00a0solar energy to the environment.\u00a0The new PV-leaf design developed at Imperial could also produce over 40 billion cubic metres of freshwater annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This design eliminates the need for pumps, fans, control units and expensive porous materials, can generate additional clean water and thermal energy, and adapt to ambient temperature and solar condition variations.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vlp-link-container vlp-layout-basic wp-block-visual-link-preview-link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/origami-solar-panel-allows-harnessing-the-sun-everywhere\/\" class=\"vlp-link\" title=\"Origami solar panel allows harnessing the sun everywhere\"><\/a><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-side\"><div class=\"vlp-block-2 vlp-link-image\"><\/div><\/div><div class=\"vlp-layout-zone-main\"><div class=\"vlp-block-0 vlp-link-title\">Origami solar panel allows harnessing the sun everywhere<\/div><div class=\"vlp-block-1 vlp-link-summary\">Historians still debate the origins of origami \u2013 the recreational paper folding technique. In our times, it has become more than a dedicated pastime craft, &hellip; <a href=\"\">Continued<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Inspiration from nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>A typical plant leaf is made of different structures which enable it to move water from the plant\u2019s roots to its leaves through a process called transpiration. Taking inspiration from plant leaves, the PV-leaf concept mimics the transpiration process, allowing water to move, distribute and evaporate. Natural fibres mimic leaf vein bundles while hydrogels simulate sponge cells, so a PV-leaf can effectively and affordably remove heat from solar PV cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Dr Gan Huang, Honorary Research Fellow in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/chemical-engineering\/\">Department of Chemical Engineering<\/a>, and author of the study said: \u201cThis innovative design holds tremendous potential for significantly enhancing the performance of solar panels, while also ensuring cost-effectiveness and practicality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Professor Christos Markides, Head of\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.imperial.ac.uk\/clean-energy-processes\/#:.:text=The%20Clean%20Energy%20Processes%20(CEP)%20Laboratory%20is%20based%20in%20the,Engineering%20at%20Imperial%20College%20London.\">Clean Energy Processes Laboratory<\/a>, and author of the study, said: \u201cImplementing this innovative leaf-like design could help expedite the global energy transition, while addressing two pressing global challenges: the need for increased energy and freshwater.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paper\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41467-023-38984-7\">High-efficiency bio-inspired hybrid multi-generation photovoltaic leaf<\/a>\u00a0was published in Nature Communications.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Photovoltaic solar energy is obtained by converting sunshine into electricity \u2013 and researchers from Imperial Collge London have developed a new leaf-like design with increased efficiency. The new photovoltaic leaf (PV-leaf) technology uses low-cost materials and could inspire the next generation of renewable energy technologies. The new photovoltaic leaf (PV-leaf) technology could inspire the next [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1780,"featured_media":494647,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[80305,80308,80310,2631],"location":[55977],"article_type":[36684],"serie":[],"archives":[],"internal_archives":[],"reboot-archive":[],"class_list":["post-455466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sustainability-nl","tag-imperial-college-london-4","tag-solar-leaf","tag-solar-panel","tag-zonnepanelen","location-united-kingdom","article_type-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"acf":{"subtitle":"New research suggests a new solar energy design, inspired by nature, may pave the way for future renewable energy technologies.","text_display_homepage":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"Elcke Vels","author_link":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/author\/elckevels\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/newseventsimage_1691754007963_mainnews2012_x4.jpg","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Sustainability<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">Sustainability<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">imperial college london<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">solar leaf<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">solar panel<\/a>","<a href=\"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/en\/category\/sustainability-nl\/\" class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">zonnepanelen<\/a>"],"unlinked":["<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">imperial college london<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">solar leaf<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">solar panel<\/span>","<span class=\"advgb-post-tax-term\">zonnepanelen<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":"0","relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 3 years ago","modified":"Updated 3 years ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on August 15, 2023","modified":"Updated on August 15, 2023"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on August 15, 2023 10:55 am","modified":"Updated on August 15, 2023 10:55 am"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1780"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455466"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455466\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494647"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/location?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"article_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article_type?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"serie","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/serie?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/archives?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"internal_archives","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/internal_archives?post=455466"},{"taxonomy":"reboot-archive","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ioplus.nl\/archive\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/reboot-archive?post=455466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}