“Intense Magnification” Could Produce Solar Power without Solar Cells

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U Michigan researchers find that magenetic field could replace photovoltaic cells to produce solar energyResearchers at the University of Michigan have taken a second look at a long-overlooked rule of physics, and the results could send shock waves through the solar power industry. The team found that a magnetic field could harvest solar energy directly, without the absorption mechanism required by conventional photovoltaic cells. Instead of semiconductors, the magnetic solar cell would consist simply of a long magnetic field contained in a fiber, with a focusing lens to get the right intensity of light.

Magnets and Renewable Energy

The latest breakthroughs in photovoltaic materials, biofuels, wind turbines and geothermal power have been grabbing a lot of headlines lately, but magnetic energy has been quietly emerging as the workhorse of the clean energy world. Magnetic energy can combine with motion to recharge batteries for handheld gadgets, it can eliminate the need for lubricating oil in the design of high tech flywheels, and it can stand in for solder to make a more energy efficient computer chip. The U.S. Navy is also experimenting with a new system that uses magnetic power to recover waste energy from lighting.

Magnetic Solar Power Cell from the University of Michigan

The Michigan research paper is a mouthful — “Optically-induced Charge Separation and Terahertz Emission in Unbiased Dielectrics” — but the basic idea is simple. Given light at the right intensity, you can create a magnetic effect that is as strong as electricity. To collect solar power, this energy would be stored in the “magnetic moment” instead of being absorbed by a material to create heat. The effect, called optical rectification, was previously known to exist only in a far weaker form, in certain crystalline materials.

Better, Cheaper Solar Cells

According to the Michigan team, a magnetic solar battery would involve far less engineering than conventional semiconductor-based solar cells require. The materials would also be relatively cheap, because the focusing lens could be made of glass or transparent ceramic. The leap from research paper to your neighborhood home improvement store is likely to be  many years in the future, but there’s no need to wait around for cheap solar energy. The solar power industry is breaking one energy efficiency barrier after another, and cheap solar materials like aluminum are already in use. Even if the Michigan breakthrough never achieves commercial development, the price of solar energy is already competitive with natural gas and coal in some areas, so it looks like the era of fossil fuels is rapidly drawing to a close.

Image: Magnets by TheodoreWLee on flickr.com.


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Tina Casey

Tina specializes in advanced energy technology, military sustainability, emerging materials, biofuels, ESG and related policy and political matters. Views expressed are her own. Follow her on LinkedIn, Threads, or Bluesky.

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