Selected Materials and Technologies for Electrical Energy Sector

Abstract

Ensuring the energy transition in order to decrease CO2 and volatile organic compounds emissions and improve the efficiency of energy processes requires the development of advanced materials and technologies for the electrical energy sector. The article reviews superconducting materials, functional nanomaterials used in the power industry mainly due to their magnetic, electrical, optical, and dielectric properties and the thin layers of amorphous carbon nitride, which properties make them an important material from the point of view of environmental protection, optoelectronic, photovoltaic and energy storage. The superconductivity-based technologies, material processing, and thermal and nonthermal plasma generation have been reviewed as technologies that can be a solution to chosen problems in the electrical energy sector and environment. The study explains directly both—the basics and application potential of low and high-temperature superconductors as well as peculiarities of the related manufacturing technologies for Roebel cables, 1G and 2G HTS tapes, and superconductor coil systems. Among the superconducting materials, particular attention was paid to the magnesium di-boride MgB2 and its potential applications in the power industry. The benefits of the use of carbon films with amorphous structures in electronics, sensing technologies, solar cells, FETs, and memory devices were discussed. The article provides the information about most interesting, from the R&D point of view, groups of materials for PV applications. It summarises the advantages and disadvantages of their use regarding commercial requirements such as efficiency, lifetime, light absorption, impact on the environment, costs of production, and weather dependency. Silicon processing, inkjet printing, vacuum deposition, and evaporation technologies that allow obtaining improved and strengthened materials for solar cell manufacturing are also described. In the case of the widely developed plasma generation field, waste-to-hydrogen technology including both thermal and non-thermal plasma techniques has been discussed. The review aims to draw attention to the problems faced by the modern power industry and to encourage research in this area because many of these problems can only be solved within the framework of interdisciplinary and international cooperation.

Non-Linear Phenomena in Voltage and Frequency Converters Supplying Non-Thermal Plasma Reactors

“…where f -frequency of PS, C d -capacity of the DB, C g -capacity of the discharge gap, U mvoltage magnitude, U ig -ignition voltage, C r -the resultant capacity of the series-connected C d and C g . The performance of the DBD reactor, as can be seen from Equation (1), can be improved by increasing the frequency of the supply voltage, but the increase in gas temperature in the discharge gap, which usually worsens the synthesis of particles and radicals in plasma processes and necessitates the use of special electrode cooling systems, must be taken into account. In industrial practice, frequencies of 150, 600 and 750 Hz are used.…”

“…These processes use only air, water, and renewable energy sources as feedstock and have all the advantages of plasma technology as an environmentally friendly solution. A target efficiency of 60% has been proposed in the literature to make plasma CO 2 conversion competitive with existing processes, and some types of plasma reactors, such as gliding arc discharge (GAD) plasma reactors, are very promising in this respect [1,2].…”

“…Such power supply systems (PSS) can be classified as static voltage and/or frequency converters (VFC). They must meet the specific requirements of atmospheric pressure cold plasma (APCP) reactors, which include the following: (1) The type of discharge used to generate the plasma; (2) The composition and physical and chemical parameters of the gas; (3) The pressure in the discharge chamber; (4) The geometrical parameters of the discharge elements (volume of the discharge plenum, type of dielectric or lack thereof; (5) The need to ensure ignition of the discharge and to maintain cyclic operation of the PR after ignition; (6) The power, voltage, frequency, number of phases and impedance of the power supply system; elements improving the interaction of the power supply with the mains, like frequency filters and reactive power compensators.…”

Forecasting Methods for Photovoltaic Energy in the Scenario of Battery Energy Storage Systems: A Comprehensive Review

“…In addition, the investigation of new technologies for storage devices is an extensive field that is in development, such as fuel cells for Hydrogen Energy Storage (HES), Compressed Air Energy Storage, among others [68,69]. Other aspects, such as BESS's principle, structure, and category have varied repercussions on the design of systems, and further investigations should be presented for those topics.…”