Efficient heat transfer of concentrated solar energy and rapid chemical kinetics are desired characteristics of solar thermochemical redox cycles for splitting CO2. We have fabricated reticulated porous ceramic (foam-type) structures made of ceria with dual-scale porosity in the millimeter and micrometer ranges. The larger void size range, with dmean = 2.5 mm and porosity = 0.76-0.82, enables v...

Solar-energy conversion usually takes one of two forms: the 'quantum' approach, which uses the large per-photon energy of solar radiation to excite electrons, as in photovoltaic cells, or the 'thermal' approach, which uses concentrated sunlight as a thermal-energy source to indirectly produce electricity using a heat engine. Here we present a new concept for solar electricity generation, photon...

A heat transfer model that couples radiation/conduction/convection heat transfer with electrical potential distribution is developed for a thermoelectric converter (TEC) subjected to concentrated solar radiation. The 4-leg TEC module consists of two pairs of ptype La1.98Sr0.02CuO4 and n-type CaMn0.98Nb0.02O3 legs that are sandwiched between two ceramic Al2O3 hot/cold plates and connected electr...

The use of solar energy in technical applications is often constrained due to its low energy density relative to the conventional sources of energy. Optical concentration is one option to increase the energy density of the solar radiation resulting in the possibility to use absorbers with small surfaces. Higher temperatures can be achieved under concentrated conditions, because heat losses are ...

This paper deals with the performance of a heat pipe solar collector. The solar collector consisted of an interconnected heat pipe so as to reduce the production cost by using an interconnected heat pipe because all the heat pipes can be evacuated, sealed and tested at once. Performance of a prototype of the heat pipe solar collector was experimentally examined, and the results were compared wi...

Solar direct, indirect and hybrid thermochemical processes are presented for the generation of hydrogen and compared to alternate solar hydrogen processes. A hybrid solar thermal/electrochemical process combines efficient photovoltaics and concentrated excess sub-bandgap heat into highly efficient elevated temperature solar electrolysis of water and generation of H2 fuel utilizing the thermodyn...