SunBOT: Sunflowers Inspire Sun-Tracking Technology to Maximise the Future Potential of Solar Power

The SunBOT can track the location of the sun, greatly boosting power generation potential.

Sunflowers have been expertly capturing the power of the sun for millennia, and now modern science is catching up.

Autor*in Mark Newton, 12.04.19

Translation Mark Newton:

Solar power is often seen as an essential solution to Earth’s climate change quandaries – providing power without burning fossil fuels and with few negative environmental side effects. However, although solar power has undergone a revolution of sorts in recent years – with increased adoption, decreasing costs and improved efficiency – the power source also comes with some serious drawbacks.

Firstly, solar power is only effective in clear, sunny conditions, while even on such days its power generation is limited by the solar cell’s orientation. Most solar power cells are static, meaning they only receive the most powerful sun rays for a small portion of the day. Once the sun moves across the sky, their efficiency plummets.

Now a team from the University of California in Los Angeles have created the first solar cell which has phototropic abilities – that is the ability to track the sun across the sky on its daily journey. To achieve this, researchers Ximin He and Xiaoshi Qian developed a new polymer and took direct inspiration from natural plant life. In nature, photo- and heliotropism is facilitated by the stem of a plant or flower growing and retracting in response to the presence or lack of sunlight. Their creation, dubbed the SunBOT – for SUNflower-like Biomimetic Omnidirectional Tracker – uses a similar method. 

Literal STEM Research

The team’s device consists of a ‘stem’ around a millimetre thick which is topped with a ‘flower’ coated in photovoltaic materials. Around the stem is a nanomaterial polymer which is able to convert light into heat. The heated sections of the stem retract, allowing the flower of the cell to move towards the light source and essentially track its movement. Once out of the sunlight, the heated section cools, preventing it from retracting too far. This constant heating and cooling allows the SunBOT to track the movement of the light source seamlessly. The video below shows the range of angles the SunBOT stem can move to, and the speed at which it can do this:

To build their prototypes, the team used a combination of gold nanoparticles and a hydrogel, however subsequent tests revealed other materials, such as reduced graphene oxide and liquid crystalline polymers, could also potentially be used. This creates opportunities for refining the process, potentially reducing costs and allowing for mass production.

According to He, traditional solar panels can only hope to receive 24 percent of the sun’s rays on any given day. The SunBOT, however, could capture as much as 90 percent, dramatically boosting the potential of solar panels’ efficiency. In the future, one possible application would be to line up SunBOTs in rows to cover surfaces such as solar panels, to help increase their efficiency and maximise their power-harvesting potential. While solar tracking systems already exist (that pivot solar panels in line with the movements of the sun), these systems often have high upfront costs, are very heavy (meaning they’re not suitable for rooftop solar) and require a lot of energy to run. SunBOTS, however, move to face the light of their own accord – with no added energy needed.

To test their invention, the University of California team submerged several SunBOTs in water with only their ‘flowers’ appearing above water. The researchers then exposed the SunBOTs to sunlight and recorded the amount of water vapour generated by the heating of the stems. They discovered that the SunBOTs generated over 400 percent more vapour than static solar panels – suggesting they are much more efficient at generating heat and therefore power.

While the team envisions fields of SunBOTs being used to generate electricity for buildings, their applications do not end there. There is also the potential that such phototropic technology could be used in many diverse fields, as the research paper released in Nature Nanotechnology states:

“This work may be useful for enhanced solar harvesters, adaptive signal receivers, smart windows, self-contained robotics, solar sails for spaceships, guided surgery, self-regulating optical devices, and intelligent energy generation (for example, solar cells and biofuels), as well as energetic emission detection and tracking with telescopes, radars and hydrophones.”

Increasingly, researchers have been turning to nature to inspire the technology of the future. We have previously heard of solar devices which replicate the process of photosynthesis and even the idea of using plants themselves to power electronic devices.

TAGGED WITH
Heliogen: Harnessing the Direct Power of the Sun to Clean Up Some of Our Dirtiest Industries

Industries requiring high temperatures usually turn to fossil fuels for power. A Californian start-up backed by Bill Gates looks to change that.

Pete the ‘Selfie-Taking Plant’ Suggests Future for Plant-Powered Environmental Technology

Environmental monitoring technology has traditionally been powered by batteries and solar panels, but now nature itself could become a power source.

SunCrafter: Upcycling Scrap Solar Panels Into Sturdy Offgrid Power Solutions

SunCrafter has developed a way to transform discarded solar panels into charging stations for festivals, power supplies for off-grid areas and even a sustainable solution for electric scooters. Reset talked to co-founder Lisa Wendzich to find out more.

Inspired By Nature: Artificial Photosynthesis Creates Fuel From Carbon Dioxide

Plants have been producing their own solar energy for half a billion years. Now humanity is catching up on replicating their photosynthetic processes.

Solar Power From Space? China Has Plans For an Orbiting Solar Farm

Chinese engineers hope to beam solar power all the way from space back to Earth - but is the plan feasible?

New Iron-Based Molecule Could Bring Cheaper, Cleaner Solar Panels

The solar sector itself is not without environmental impact - especially in relation to rare-earth minerals. However, could humble old iron be about to change that?