Solar cells with graphene layer could generate electricity from rain
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.029725
IEEE Spectrum : Solar cells generate minimal electricity when it’s cloudy or raining, but the rain does serve a purpose: It rinses dust off the cells. Now Qunwei Tang of Ocean University of China in Qingdao and his colleagues have succeeded in using the ionized salts in rain to keep solar cells generating electricity even when the weather is inclement. To attract the positively charged ions and induce a capacitor-like effect, Tang’s team added a layer of graphene to an inexpensive thin-film solar cell mounted on a flexible backing. When slightly salty water was sprayed on the solar cells, they generated hundreds of microvolts of electricity, achieving a solar-to-electric conversion efficiency of 6.53%. Tang says that the proof of concept shows that solar cells could be adapted to generate electricity in all kinds of weather.
