A molecule capable of storing solar energy has been created by Swedish scientists
The main problem of alternative (green) energy associated with solar panels is the accumulation and storage of energy at night, when the sun does not illuminate the panels and there is no energy generation.
For this reason, hundreds of scientists around the world are looking for various ways to conserve the energy of the Sun.
So a scientific group from Linkoping University (Sweden) reported on the pages of the journal Journal of the American Chemical Society that they managed to create a unique molecule that easily absorbs solar energy and at the same time successfully stores it in chemical bonds. Let's talk about this discovery in more detail.
The problem of solar energy - its accumulation and storage
The main disadvantage of green energy based on the use of solar panels is the problem of its efficient storage and storage. After all, it is extremely important that the previously accumulated energy can be released during the period when the sun does not shine.
There are many different engineering solutions and lithium-ion batteries are very popular at the moment. But Swedish scientists have proposed a more original solution.
What scientists have created
Scientists managed to create a unique molecule, which, according to Bo Durbey, can be in two forms:
- The so-called parental form, which is able to accumulate the energy of the Sun.
- And a modified form, where the original structure has undergone major changes in order to dramatically increase the initial energy intensity and at the same time maintain stability.
The created molecule belongs to the class of molecular switches or dithienyl benzene switches.
Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they are always available in two different forms, which differ from each other in their chemical structure.
Moreover, each form of the molecule is endowed with its own unique properties. In the case of a molecule developed by scientists, the difference lies in the energy content.
Studies have shown that the chemical structure of molecules changes under the influence of the flow of sunlight.
The main problem was that the overwhelming number of chemical reactions starts then, when a molecule has high energy and already in the process is transformed into a molecule with low energy.
Through numerous experiments, engineers have succeeded in achieving exactly the opposite. The molecule they created began to participate in a chemical process with a low energy index, and ended up with a high one.
In this case, the reaction rate of the transition from the "discharged state to the charged" occurs in 200 femtoseconds.
Where can this molecule be used
Any development should be useful, not a discovery for the sake of discovery. So unique molecules can be used in molecular electronics (where two forms of a molecule have different electrical conductivity), and also in photopharmacology, in which one of the forms of the molecule has increased activity and may well bind to the target protein in organism.
Research in this area continues, therefore, perhaps, the field of application will significantly expand in the process of finalizing and improving the technology for accumulating and extracting energy in molecules.
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