According to the International Energy Agency, the rapid growth of solar energy generation puts renewables on track to meet almost half of global electricity demand by 2030.
Researchers at Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science want to ensure that solar panels are not causing a pollution problem like the fossil fuels they are replacing.
Assistant Professor Yuxin Wang - a faculty member at Watson College's School of Systems Science and Industrial Engineering - and her collaborators recently received a $254,737 grant from the federal Environmental Protection Agency to investigate the long-term stability and environmental effects of solar cells.
One big concern is that solar panels use lead as a connector between cells, and lead leakage into groundwater can cause numerous health issues, especially for children.
"New York state aims to have one-of-a-kind solar power production in the future, and we don't want to sacrifice the environment with lead as a substitute for the harmful effects of carbon emissions," Wang said.
The research will test perovskite solar cells, a more environmentally friendly option meant to replace the silicon-based cells used today.
For the past decade, Professor Tara Dhakal from Watson College's Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering has been developing the perovskite technology, which he hopes will use 85% less lead than silicon cells. While he would like to eliminate lead entirely, no viable alternative has matched its conductive properties.
"Solar cells are more widely deployed outside, so we need to think about how we take care of the end of use," he said. We want to make sure that we recycle the precious metals. Also, while the panels are running for 20 or 25 years, we want to make sure we have the right way of encapsulating it so that nothing releases out."
SSIE Professor Shuxia "Susan" Lu will evaluate the solar cells through accelerated life testing to identify failure modes, investigate the underlying failure mechanisms and implement process optimization to enhance the durability of the solar cells.
"The life expectancy of a solar panel is 20 to 30 years, but we will accelerate it to a couple of weeks/months and see whether any pollutants are leaching out," Wang said.
As part of the EPA grant, the Binghamton researchers will work with two industry partners to share the information they gather. One is H.B. Fuller, which manufactures adhesive encapsulation materials for solar panels to keep them as protected from the environment as possible. The other is Avangrid, the parent company of upstate New York electric supplier NYSEG.
Another requirement from the grant is to develop a better way to monitor large arrays of solar panels using drone technology.
SSIE Associate Professor Yong Wang, who will steer that part of the research, has been working on an autonomous system for that purpose. He believes that with better thermal-imaging cameras, drones using artificial intelligence could detect 95% of problems with solar panels from the air.
"The large solar farms can be hundreds of acres. and if you have to do the inspection manually, it is very, very time-consuming," he said. "If you use a drone to fly up high in the air based on a route that can be automatically scheduled, you can cover the entire farm within 30 minutes or less."
