Enabling Renewable Energy Technologies in Harsh Climates with Ultra‐Efficient Electro‐Thermal Desnowing, Defrosting, and Deicing

Abstract

The rapid anthropomorphic emission of greenhouse gases is contributing to global climate change, resulting in the increased frequency of extreme weather events, including unexpected snow, frost, and ice accretion in warmer regions that typically do not encounter these conditions. Adverse weather events create challenges for energy systems such as wind turbines and photovoltaics. To maintain energy efficiently and operational fidelity, snow, frost, and ice need to be removed efficiently and rapidly. State‐of‐the‐art removal methods are energy‐intensive (energy density > 30 J cm−2) and slow (>1 min). Here, pulsed Joule heating is developed on transparent self‐cleaning interfaces, demonstrating interfacial desnowing, defrosting, and deicing with energy efficiency (energy density < 10 J cm−2) and rapidity (≈1 s) beyond what is currently available. The transparency and self‐cleaning are tailored to remove both snow and dust while ensuring minimal interference with optical light absorption. It is experimentally demonstrated a multi‐functional coating material on a commercial photovoltaic cell, demonstrating efficient energy generation recovery and rapid ice/snow removal with minimal energy consumption. Through the elimination of accretion, this technology can potentially widen the applicability of photovoltaics and wind technologies to globally promising locations, potentially further reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global climate change.

A Scalable Haze‐Free Antireflective Hierarchical Surface with Self‐Cleaning Capability

“…demonstrated an effective defrosting capability on PV devices using boehmite nanostructures. [ 35 ] Such coating preserved the pristine performance of PV devices before and after defrosting experiments, providing a PCE enhancement of <3% due to the same degree of enhancement in visible transmittance. Furthermore, the fabrication involved a vacuum process (i.e., sputtering), which could limit overall scalability.…”

“…A few attempts at developing transparent superhydrophobic coatings for PVs have been reported. [ 11,13,24,26,35 ] For example, Torun et al. created a transparent superhydrophobic coating using fluorinated NPs by spraying process.…”

“…A few attempts at developing transparent superhydrophobic coatings for PVs have been reported. [11,13,24,26,35] For example, Torun et al created a transparent superhydrophobic coating using fluorinated NPs by spraying process. [26] However, the PCE of PV devices after the coating was adversely reduced by ≈1.3% because of the lack of precise control over the coating morphology.…”

“…[ 8–29 ] Superhydrophobic surfaces can trap air beneath water droplets (i.e., Cassie state), [ 30 ] which offers a means to promptly eliminate contaminants and to avoid icing and fouling in various environmentally benign. [ 6–29 ] To date, high‐transparency (i.e., high “specular” transmittance) superhydrophobic coatings are essential for developing low‐maintenance glass‐based applications, such as smart windows, [ 31 ] touch panels, [ 32 ] see‐through displays, [ 33 ] LiDARs [ 8 ] and photovoltaics (PVs), [ 34–36 ] to name a few. Note that we define the term transparency as an optical quantity of being transparent and “haze‐free” such that it is distinguished from the amount of light simply passing from one medium to another (i.e., transmittance).…”

Impact of Hydrothermally Prepared Support on the Catalytic Properties of CuCe Oxide for Preferential CO Oxidation Reaction

“…In recent decades, carbon dioxide emissions have risen tremendously, leading to poor air quality and an increase in the global temperature by 1 • C [1]. Such a negative environmental impact originates from the massive utilization of fossil fuels in industry, electricity and transportation [2]. The Paris Agreement has set a goal to limit global warming to below 2 • C, preferably 1.5 • C, compared to pre-industrial levels [3].…”