It’s not just a 10% increase in productivity, it produces fresh water as a byproduct:
Furthermore, the photovoltaic leaf is capable of synergistically utilising the recovered heat to co-generate additional thermal energy and freshwater simultaneously within the same component, significantly elevating the overall solar utilisation efficiency from 13.2% to over 74.5%, along with over 1.1 L/h/m2 of clean water.
It’s easier to see the impressiveness of it when you realize that it collects 10% more energy than the current designs on the market. Yeah, that’s a huge jump. Typically you only see less than 1-2% jumps in any given technology unless you develop a really novel approach (which is what this seems like).
So basically you go from using 30% of solar energy to 33%? Sounds nice but would that really do that much?
It’s not just a 10% increase in productivity, it produces fresh water as a byproduct:
where does the salt go? wouldn’t it build up in the pipes and cause them to get clogged?
Only if the water evaporates within the pipes?
Thats pretty cool, although that is not even mentioned in the article unless Im missing something.
The article is extremely light on detail
That bleeping lobster linked the actual paper
https://lemmy.world/comment/2756145
1.1l/h/m2 ? That means 25m2 generate 27.5l/h so 660l a day. That’s huge.
It’s easier to see the impressiveness of it when you realize that it collects 10% more energy than the current designs on the market. Yeah, that’s a huge jump. Typically you only see less than 1-2% jumps in any given technology unless you develop a really novel approach (which is what this seems like).