Scientists Developing ‘Anti-Solar Panels’ That Could Generate Power At Night

Scientists are creating something they’re calling ‘anti-solar panels’ that will generate power during the night.

The panels will be the complete opposite to current climate change-friendly solar panels which rely on the sun to generate power – the night time ones will emit light, rather than absorb it.

The aim of the new, night panels is so that energy can be created around the clock. While it won’t be able to create as much energy as traditional solar panels, it’s thought it will be able to originate a quarter of the energy of that made by its current daytime counterparts.

According to Robologic Lab, The University of California, Davis (UC Davis) have been creating a prototype by combining thermoradiative panels so they can produce energy on account of radiative cooling.

Jeremy Munday, an electrical and computer engineer from UC Davis, noted the similarities between a traditional solar panel, and the potential new night ones.

As per Science Daily, he explained:

A regular solar cell generates power by absorbing sunlight, which causes a voltage to appear across the device and for current to flow. In these new devices, light is instead emitted and the current and voltage go in the opposite direction, but you still generate power.

‘You have to use different materials, but the physics is the same,’ he added.

Instead of having two different panels – one for daytime and one for nigh time – scientists are hoping to create one panel that will work 24/7.

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