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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Flower power: ‘Sunflower’ system churns out useful energy

Solar-powered apparatus converts roughly two-thirds of the energy it harvests into usable outputs.
The Sunflower Hybrid CPV/T system with parabolic concentrator mirror and dual-axis tracking.

A large reflective dish (curved white sheet at left) focuses the Sun’s rays on a cluster of solar cells (small silver box, centre) reminiscent of a sunflower’s eye. Credit: W. Skelton et al. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci.

A prototype device dubbed the Sunflower system has pushed the bounds of high-efficiency solar-energy set-ups by converting more than 65% of the Sun’s energy it receives into electricity or heat1. The best conventional solar cells are less than half as efficient at converting sunlight into a useful output.

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Nature 605, 399 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-01313-x

References

  1. Skelton, W. et al. Cell Rep. Phys. Sci. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrp.2022.100887 (2022).

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