Solarpower WITHOUT Sunlight: This Is How It Works!

This material turns renewable energy on its head. Literally. These are solar cells that also produce electricity at night. That sounds almost paradoxical, but it is technically possible. And it's done with this: Mercury Cadmium Telluride. This new material can convert thermal radiation into electricity. And that thermal radiation comes directly from the Earth, specifically at night. We'll take a closer look at exactly how that works in this video.

This video was created by my editorial team. Responsible from the editorial team: Alexander Liebeheim, Tabea Desch, Jacob Beautemps; Editing: Romy Grütter, Sören Rensch & Neo Sanjuan Thiele.

Chapters:
00:00 Solar Power At Night
01:33 Thermal Radiation at Night
02:33 Use of Thermal Radiation
03:26 Mercury-Cadmium-Telluride
03:48 Technical Implementation
05:59 The BIG Hurdle

Sources:
Source 1:
https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2022/05/night-time-solar-technology-can-deliver-power-in-dark
Source 2:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsphotonics.2c00223
Source 3:
https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/610640/umfrage/anteil-von-pv-an-der-gesamten-ee-stromerzeugung-weltweit
Source 4:
https://www.ipv.uni-rostock.de/storages/uni-rostock/Alle_MNF/Physik_Cluster/moderne_physik/photoelktrischer_e.pdf
Source 5:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/thermal-radiation
Source 6:
https://www.leifiphysik.de/optik/elektromagnetisches-spektrum/ausblick/temperaturstrahlung-und-strahlungsgesetze
Source 7:
https://klassewasser.de/content/language1/html/10086.php
Source 8:
https://science.nasa.gov/ems/13_radiationbudget/
Source 9:
https://www.chemie.de/lexikon/B%C3%A4ndermodell.html
Source 10:
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26009258/
Source 11:
https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/Clouds
Source 12:
https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/elemental-mercury-and-inorganic-mercury-compounds-human-health-aspects
Source 13:
https://www.who.int/teams/environment-climate-change-and-health/chemical-safety-and-health/health-impacts/chemicals/cadmium