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05 June 2019 | Story Leonie Bolleurs | Photo Leonie Bolleurs
Lucas Erasmus and Prof Hendrik Swart
Lucas Erasmus and Prof Hendrik Swart (right) are working on a joint project with Ghent University to find an attractive solution to address the energy demands of buildings, electric motor vehicles, and mobile electronics.
With a constant increase in the price of electricity, any innovation to replace this necessity in our daily lives is welcome. 

The University of the Free State (UFS), whose vision is supported by an element of innovation, welcomes the recent agreement between its Department of Physics and Ghent University.

Attractive solution

Not only will this research – which aims to develop the materials necessary for transparent solar panels – enlarge the international research footprint of the UFS, but it is also an attractive solution to address the energy demands of buildings, electric motor vehicles, and mobile electronics without affecting their appearance.

According to Prof Hendrik Swart, from the UFS Department of Physics, the agreement between the two universities entails a joint doctoral degree in which both universities will supervise the project and the awarding of the doctorate. The student, Lucas Erasmus, will conduct research at both institutions.

Transparent solar panel

The idea with the research is to develop glass that is transparent to visible light, just like the glass you find in the windows of buildings, motor vehicles, and mobile electronic devices. However, by incorporating the right phosphor materials inside the glass, the light from the sun that is invisible to the human eye (ultraviolet and infrared light) can be collected, converted, and concentrated to the sides of the glass panel where solar panels can be mounted. This invisible light can then be used to generate electricity to power these buildings, vehicles, and electronic devices. The invention is therefore a type of transparent solar panel.

Implemented in cellphone screens

This technology can be implemented in the building environment to meet the energy demands of the people inside the buildings. 

The technology is also good news for the 4,7 billion cellphone users in the world, as it can be implemented in the screens of cellphones, where the sun or the ambient light of a room can be used to power the device without affecting its appearance. 

Another possible application is in electric cars, where the windows can be used to help power the vehicle.

Low-income housing

Erasmus added: “We are also looking at implementing this idea into hard, durable plastics that can act as a replacement for zinc roofs.” 

“This will allow visible light to enter housing, and the invisible light can then be used to generate electricity. The device also concentrates the light from a large area to the small area on the sides where the solar panels are placed; therefore, reducing the number of solar panels needed and, in return, reducing the cost.”

The technology will take about a decade to implement.

“This study is currently ongoing, and we are experimenting and testing different materials in order to optimise the device in the laboratory. After this, it needs to be upscaled in order to test it in the field. It is truly the technology of the future,” said Erasmus.

Video: Barend Nagel

News Archive

Geology researcher wins international photographic contest
2017-06-02

Description: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva Tags: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva

In this winning photo, “Movement of the ancient sand”,
Dr Matthew Huber, postdoctoral research fellow in the
Department of Geology at UFS, is scaling an outcrop
of sandstone (former sand dunes) in the Zion National
Park in the US.
Photo: Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva

Dr Elizaveta Kovaleva and Dr Matthew Huber, postdoctoral research fellows in the Department of Geology at the University of the Free State (UFS), attended the European Geosciences Union (EGU) General Assembly in Vienna, Austria in April 2017, where Dr Kovaleva was declared a winner of the EGU photo contest with a photograph entitled “Movement of the ancient sand”.

Submitting the winning photo
Each participant could submit up to three photos to participate in the contest before the conference. From all the photographs 10 were selected and displayed for the entire week at the assembly so participants could vote for their three favourite photos. At the end of the week three winners were selected. The prize winners received a free EGU book of their choice, free registration for next year’s EGU and an option to judge the photo competition next year. The photos will be printed on postcards next year, so all participants can send them wherever they want around the globe.

“The picture was taken in the Zion National Park in the US. Myself and Dr Huber were travelling around the western states, visiting national parks. The person in the picture is Dr Huber,” said Dr Kovaleva.

Dr Kovaleva was also invited to participate - as a recently published author - in a workshop, called: ”Publishing in EGU journals: Solid Earth and Earth Surface Dynamics – Meet the Editors”.

At the assembly, Dr Kovaleva attended sessions on Tectonics and Structural Geology as well as on Geochemistry, Mineralogy, Petrology and Volcanology. These sessions were especially interesting in the scope of her research and are directly related to it. “I am a metamorphic petrologist, and with my PhD, I essentially studied microstructures. At the moment, I am studying the Vredefort impact crater, which has experienced both metamorphism and deformation,” she said.

“The winning photos will be printed on postcards,
so all participants can send them wherever they
want around the globe”.

Building scientific connections
For both researchers, the assembly was an opportunity to meet former colleagues and professors from universities all over the world and shake hands with authors whose papers and work they were familiar with, but had never met in person.

“EGU is a perfect opportunity to build scientific connections and relationships, advertise your research and start new collaborations and projects,” said Dr Kovaleva.

The EGU General Assembly 2017 was a great success, with 4 849 oral, 11 312 poster, and 1 238 PICO presentations. Some 649 unique scientific sessions, together with 88 short courses and 322 side events, created an interesting programme. At the conference 14 496 scientists from 107 countries participated, of whom 53% were under the age of 35. Thirty one were from South Africa.

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