Photothermal butterfly solar power generation

What are photothermal conversions of solar energy?

Then, the state-of-the-art progress for photothermal conversions of solar energy is introduced in detail, mainly including photothermal water evaporation and desalination, photothermal catalysis, photothermal electric power generation, photothermal bacterial killing, photothermal sensors, and photothermal deicing.

What are the advantages of photothermal conversion of solar energy?

Among all the solar energy conversion technologies, photothermal conversion of solar energy exhibits unique advantages when applied for water purification, desalination, high-temperature heterogeneous catalysis, anti-bacterial treatments, and deicing.

How efficient is photothermal power generation?

Although photothermal electric power generation can show a solar-to-electricity conversion efficiency exceeding 7% under 38 Sun, its conversion efficiency remains very low under low concentration solar intensity, such as 1 Sun or ambient conditions.

Can photothermal catalysis convert solar energy into chemical energy?

For example, photothermal catalysis for H 2 generation and CO 2 reduction can be applied to convert solar energy into chemical energy under high concentrated solar intensity, but the efforts are still far from enough.

Are photothermal materials a viable alternative to solar energy?

Photothermal materials are promising alternatives for environmentally friendly thermal management via efficiently harvesting solar energy for heat, which contributes to the elevated temperature gradient for a preferable electricity generation (8, 9).

Why are photothermal materials important for wearable solar thermoelectric generators (stegs)?

The photothermal materials with an extensive absorption are fundamental to achieve optical and thermal concentration of the sunlight for efficiency output electricity of wearable solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs).