TY - JOUR
T1 - Enabling Renewable Energy Technologies in Harsh Climates with Ultra-Efficient Electro-Thermal Desnowing, Defrosting, and Deicing
AU - Li, Longnan
AU - Khodakarami, Siavash
AU - Yan, Xiao
AU - Fazle Rabbi, Kazi
AU - Gunay, Ahmet Alperen
AU - Stillwell, Andrew
AU - Miljkovic, Nenad
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Advanced Functional Materials published by Wiley-VCH GmbH.
PY - 2022/8/1
Y1 - 2022/8/1
N2 - The rapid anthropomorphic emission of greenhouse gases is contributing to global climate change, resulting in the increased frequency of extreme weather events, including unexpected snow, frost, and ice accretion in warmer regions that typically do not encounter these conditions. Adverse weather events create challenges for energy systems such as wind turbines and photovoltaics. To maintain energy efficiently and operational fidelity, snow, frost, and ice need to be removed efficiently and rapidly. State-of-the-art removal methods are energy-intensive (energy density > 30 J cm−2) and slow (>1 min). Here, pulsed Joule heating is developed on transparent self-cleaning interfaces, demonstrating interfacial desnowing, defrosting, and deicing with energy efficiency (energy density < 10 J cm−2) and rapidity (≈1 s) beyond what is currently available. The transparency and self-cleaning are tailored to remove both snow and dust while ensuring minimal interference with optical light absorption. It is experimentally demonstrated a multi-functional coating material on a commercial photovoltaic cell, demonstrating efficient energy generation recovery and rapid ice/snow removal with minimal energy consumption. Through the elimination of accretion, this technology can potentially widen the applicability of photovoltaics and wind technologies to globally promising locations, potentially further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.
AB - The rapid anthropomorphic emission of greenhouse gases is contributing to global climate change, resulting in the increased frequency of extreme weather events, including unexpected snow, frost, and ice accretion in warmer regions that typically do not encounter these conditions. Adverse weather events create challenges for energy systems such as wind turbines and photovoltaics. To maintain energy efficiently and operational fidelity, snow, frost, and ice need to be removed efficiently and rapidly. State-of-the-art removal methods are energy-intensive (energy density > 30 J cm−2) and slow (>1 min). Here, pulsed Joule heating is developed on transparent self-cleaning interfaces, demonstrating interfacial desnowing, defrosting, and deicing with energy efficiency (energy density < 10 J cm−2) and rapidity (≈1 s) beyond what is currently available. The transparency and self-cleaning are tailored to remove both snow and dust while ensuring minimal interference with optical light absorption. It is experimentally demonstrated a multi-functional coating material on a commercial photovoltaic cell, demonstrating efficient energy generation recovery and rapid ice/snow removal with minimal energy consumption. Through the elimination of accretion, this technology can potentially widen the applicability of photovoltaics and wind technologies to globally promising locations, potentially further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.
KW - defrosting
KW - deicing
KW - desnowing
KW - photovoltaic
KW - pulsed Joule heating
KW - self-cleaning
KW - superhydrophobic
KW - transparent
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U2 - 10.1002/adfm.202201521
DO - 10.1002/adfm.202201521
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85129219360
SN - 1616-301X
VL - 32
JO - Advanced Functional Materials
JF - Advanced Functional Materials
IS - 31
M1 - 2201521
ER -