New solar power material converts 90 percent of captured light into heat

An engineering team at the University of California has developed a new nanoparticle-based material that absorbs around 90% of the sunlight it captures and converts it into heat. This technology is specifically designed for solar plants designed to absorb heat to convert into energy. “Concentrating solar power (CSP) is an emerging alternative clean energy market that produces approximately 3.5 gigawatts worth of power at power plants around the globe -- enough to power more than 2 million homes.”(link) The traditional types of CSP systems use mirrors to reflect sunlight towards a tower spray painted with black paint, the paint is used to absorb light and generate heat which is then converted into energy. This system is not very efficient however and has many faults, like the fact it has to be repainted around once a year. This repainting and re-coating process stops the production of energy which is not wanted. With this new technology the consumption of sun-light will be much more efficient and self-dependent which will result in a lot more energy for everyone. . The team’s goal is for many years of usage life, something they are closely approaching. The new solar technology being designed is exciting to me because it will help solve the problem of producing energy in the future, and cuts down on the usage of other harmful forms of production.