Flat-panel solar thermoelectric generators raise the roof

In a paper published on May 1 in Nature materials, Gang Chen's group at MIT describes a new radical concept to turn the sun's heat into electricity

While solar thermal electricity is not a new idea, typical existing systems rely on arrays of movable mirrors that track the sun and focus heat on a small area. The new approach uses flat stationary panels. The system achieved a already quite impressive peak efficiency of 4.6% under AM1.5G (1 kWm-2) condition.

The performance is enabled by the use of nanostructured thermoelectric materials and spectrally-selective solar absorbers in an innovative flat design.

The device can be integrated into solar hot water systems and could be a relatively unexpensive addition.