Solar PV Energy Storage:The lack of reliable storage material for unconsumed energy produced by PV systems during excess sun hours has been one of the many setbacks for a wider acceptability of solar as an alternative source of energy. But this is about to change.
Advancements in Fuel cell technology is getting close to solving this issue. Fuel cells are high power density devices that efficiently convert chemical energy into electric power. The use of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are preferred as they are inexpensive, have low sensitivity to impurities, and record high efficiencies. Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), Georgia Institute of Technology, and Dong-Eui University researchers have been working on this technology and succeeded to produce a cathode material with optimal performance at the intermediate temperature range.
During the research, they tried to co-dope Sr and Fe and succeeded in yielding remarkable out-performance to present materials at lower operating temperature. "The hardest part of this research was finding optimum composition of Sr and Fe for the best performance and robustness. Previously various researches trying to dope Sr to perovskite structure had been made by many other groups. But none of them was successful for the better performance at the low operating temperature." Said Prof. Guntae Kim, leader of the research team (reference). This research provides more flexible choices for fuel cell components--which translates to lower cost and reliable fuel cells.
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