375% output: China unleashes solar tech with triple power, record 67% efficiency
The cocrystal exhibited near-complete photoluminescence quenching, indicating highly efficient nonradiative energy transfer.
Scientists have developed a new class of organic photothermal cocrystals that significantly boost the efficiency of solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), paving the way for smarter wearable electronics, next-gen energy devices, and long-distance signal transmission.
With recent research driving major advances in solar thermoelectric generators (STEGs), photothermal materials, such as carbon-based compounds, metal oxides, polymers, and phase-change materials, have emerged as promising solutions for generating the temperature gradients essential to efficient energy conversion.
Now, a research team consisting of scientists from Nanchang University, Soochow University, and Nanjing University in China has made a massive leap ahead by using the open-shell radical Br2NDA as an electron acceptor to design and synthesize a photothermal charge-transfer cocrystal, coronene-Br2NDA (CBC).
When combined, coronene and Br₂NDA self-assemble into needle-like microrods through a simple solution-based method, forming a highly crystalline structure with exceptional light absorption and heat conversion capabilities.