JUN 09

Well, the Russian scientists at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR) have given us some more information. They're claiming a 54% efficiency in converting visual light to electricity. They're claiming a system of storing that energy that does not use acid batteries, and they're claiming a 31% efficiency at converting low-light and infrared light to electricity. And, finally, they've actually given us a glimpse of how, exactly, this is supposed to work. Of course, they told the world in Russian, and we don't speak Russian, but we're happy to try and translate the translation / explaination we found at PESN.

Summary:
The Russians said: We have a revolutionary new 'star battery' that is made of heteroelectric matter.

The Russians meant to say: We made an ultra-capacitor and an ultra-efficient photoelement out of a metamaterial.

Now, this might not strike you as a huge difference. But we can actually figure out what they're talking about in the second sentence, while, if you google “heteroelectric” you find only articles talking about the star battery.

Read all about it after the jump: 

{mosimage}So, in order of importance:

Metamaterial (heteroelectric matter): This is any material made by man that gains it's electromagnetic properties from its structure rather than the materials it's composed of. They can do really weird things with these, like having a negative index of refraction or dielectric constant. They're using them in the military to create cloaking devices (maybe) and ridiculously powerful lasers (definitely.)

Ultracapacitor (supercapacitor): Capacitors are little devices that can store or release a charge. They're kinda like batteries, but they can't store much charge, and they have a hard time not releasing that charge all in one spurt. Ultracapacitors are capacitors that can store a an unusually large charge and can control how fast they release it. They're used in hybrid cars a lot. Better than batteries, because they don't have any of the environmental hazards.

Ultra-efficient photo element: This is just a way of saying a really great solar cell.

{mosimage} So...what does this all mean? First, these folks have created a metamaterial with an extremely high dielectric constant. What this means is, the created metamaterial does not hold onto its electrons very tightly. Capacitors created with higher dielectric constants can hold considerably more charge. We're talking about increasing the charge able to be held by a capacitor by 100 or 1000 times. This, alone, is actually a very big deal, and is the 'battery' part of the 'star battery.'

Now onto the photocell: Based on this extremely high dielectric constant, we also have created a material that has no trouble shedding its electrons when excited by a particular wavelength of light. The Russians are focusing on infra-red wavelengths so that IR energy from the stellar mass can be harnessed as well as sunlight. How and why, exactly, this works so well is still unclear. There is discussion in their press release about spaces between materials that are smaller than a wavelength of light, indicating that the efficiency might result from a much higher density of active photo-elements. Or it may simply be the properties of the metamaterial that makes the 'star battery' so efficient.

In any case, the energy created by the photocell then goes into one of these ultracapacitors, where it can be stored cheaply, efficiently, and with none of the environmental problems of acid batteries.

So, there we have it. We know more about the star battery, but still not enough. Will they be selling it on the mass market any time soon? Probably not. But it's nice to see that progress is being made.