
Thomas joined UCF in 2011. His previous work resulted in a variety of innovations, including material that could help keep pilots and sensitive equipment safe from destructive lasers, a way to both transmit and store electricity in a lightweight copper wire, and filaments that harvest and store the sun’s energy and can be woven into textiles.
Imagine being able to spray or paint bridges, houses and skyscrapers with the material, which would then capture light, turn it into energy and feed it into the electrical grid. That’s where this technology is going thanks to UCF.
Artificial Intelligence may be just the thing to accelerate spray-on solar cell technology, which could revolutionize how consumers use energy.
A research team at the University of Central Florida used Machine Learning, aka Artificial Intelligence to optimize the materials used to make perovskite solar cells (PSC). The Organic-Inorganic halide perovskites material used in PSC converts photovoltaic power into consumable energy.
These perovskites can be processed in solid or liquid state, offering a lot of flexibility. Imagine being able to spray or paint bridges, houses and skyscrapers with the material, which would then capture light, turn it into energy and feed it into the electrical grid. Until now, the solar cell industry has relied on silicon because of its efficiency. But that’s old technology with limits. Using perovskites, however, has one big barrier. They are difficult to make in a usable and stable material. Scientists spend a lot of time trying to find just the right recipe to make them with all the benefits – flexibility, stability, efficiency and low cost. That’s where artificial intelligence comes in.
The team’s work is so promising that its findings are the cover story Friday, Dec. 13 in the Advanced Energy Materials journal.
The team reviewed more than 2,000 peer-reviewed publications about perovskites and collected more than 300 data points then fed into the AI system they created. The system was able to analyze the information and predict which perovskites recipe would work best.
“Our results demonstrate that machine learning tools can be used for crafting perovskite materials and investigating the physics behind developing highly efficient PSCs,” says Jayan Thomas, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at the NanoScience Technology Center with multiple affiliations. “This can be a guide to design new materials as evidenced by our experimental demonstration.”
If this model bears out, it means researchers could identify the best formula to create a world standard. Then spray-on solar cells may happen in our lifetime, the researchers say.
“This is a promising finding because we use data from real experiments to predict and obtain a similar trend from the theoretical calculation, which is new for PSCs. We also predicted the best recipe to make PSC with different bandgap perovskites,” says Thomas and his graduate student, Jinxin Li, who is the first author of this paper. “Perovskites have been a hot research topic for the past 10 years, but we think we really have something here that can move us forward.”
Others on the research team include: Basudev Pradhan from the NanoScience Technology Center and Surya Gaur from the College of Engineering and Computer Science. Pradhan is currently a faculty member at Centre of Excellence in Green and Efficient Energy Technology, at the Central University of Jharkhand in India
Thomas joined UCF in 2011 and is a part of the NanoScience Technology Center with a joint appointment in the College of Optics and Photonics and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering in the College of Engineering. His previous work resulted in a variety of innovations, including material that could help keep pilots and sensitive equipment safe from destructive lasers, a way to both transmit and store electricity in a lightweight copper wire, and filaments that harvest and store the sun’s energy and can be woven into textiles.
Learn more: Artificial Intelligence May Help Scientists Make Spray-on Solar Cells
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Spray-on solar cells
- Fairy garden ideas: 13 ways to bring some magic to your backyard
Roofs can be added using hammer and panel pins (under adult supervision of course ... For added sparkle, hang battery-powered or solar fairy lights amongst the branches above. Bring your container to ...
- Possible Trump indictment pushed back as New York grand jury to break for a month – as it happened
Grand jury won’t hear evidence on hush money payment due to previously scheduled hiatus, report says ...
- Off-Road Campers: How to Pick the Best Rig for Hunting
Are you considering an off road camper for your next hunting adventure. Here's a rundown of everything from truck campers to trailers.
- Global Solar-Powered UAV Market Report 2023: Sector To Reach $620.3 Million By 2028 At A CAGR Of 11%
The global solar-powered UAV market size reached US$ 331.6 Million in 2022. Looking forward, the analyst expects the market to reach US$ 620.3 Million by 2028, exhibiting a CAGR of 11% during ...
- How Cleaning Up Pollution May Be Heating the Planet
Aerosols may have been cooling the atmosphere as much as some greenhouse gases have been warming it. But they are bad for our health.
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Spray-on solar cells
[google_news title=”” keyword=”spray-on solar cells” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
Go deeper with Bing News on:
Perovskite solar cells
- IITRDF, GIC Re sign MoU for development of Semi-Transparent Perovskite Solar Cells
This is a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative of the General Insurance Corporation of India (GIC Re). The new solar window technology will be designed and developed by lead scientist Prof ...
- Slot-die coated perovskite PV cell with precursor ink hits 22.54% efficiency
German researchers claim to have reduced ribbing effects in using slot-die coating for the production of perovskite solar cells. The results are reportedly the most efficient solar cell built with ...
- A new solar cell breakthrough could be the key to an energy revolution
“Perovskite solar cells show great promise in the drive towards cleaner, greener energy,” said Photovoltaic Research Lead Professor Trystan Watson. "The ability to produce a fully working device ...
- Aerosol-treated perovskites – shedding new light on affordable solar energy
In our drive towards net-zero, solar cells are a vital part of the renewable energy offering. Dr Joe Briscoe and his team are exploring innovative manufacturing techniques to make perovskite solar ...
- Perovskite Solar Cells Sales Market 2023 Size Growing Rapidly with Recent Trends
Perovskite Solar Cells Sales Market Insights 2023 by Types (Rigid Module , Flexible Module ) , Applications (BIPV , ...
Go deeper with Google Headlines on:
Perovskite solar cells
[google_news title=”” keyword=”perovskite solar cells” num_posts=”5″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]