Discover the solar panels that work at night!

A researcher, Jeremy Munday, designed a solar panel that works at night. The panel works almost the same as a normal solar panel, but instead, in reverse. They use a thermoradiative cell that generates power by radiating heat to its surroundings and when pointed at the sky in night, it emits infrared light because its warmer than the space. Another device called an anti-solar cell, takes the radiation and turns it into electricity just the same way a normal solar cell does.

"We were thinking, what if we took one of these devices and put it in a warm area and pointed it at the sky,” Munday explains. “A regular solar cell generates power by absorbing sunlight, which causes a voltage to appear across the device and for current to flow. In these new devices, light is instead emitted and the current and voltage go in the opposite direction, but you still generate power," the scientist elucidates.

"You have to use different materials, but the physics is the same," he adds.

The solar panel that works at night can also work at day, just needs to be shielded from direct sunlight.