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Optical Tools for Renewable Energy Generation and Storage Research

With ever increasing demands for greater energy generation and the diversification of energy supplies driving the growth of a low carbon economy it has never been more important to have the best of cutting edge scientific tools to progress research towards a greener future. This drive is leading to increased interest in battery technology and alternative energy sources such as wind and solar and increasing the efficiency of existing sources such as nuclear whilst decarbonising other sources such as gas & coal.

Andor hosts an extensive camera portfolio of sCMOS, CCDs, ICCD, EMCCDs, optical cryostats and spectrographs that offer a dynamic range of solutions to address research tackling today’s environmental challenges. Andor’s camera portfolio covers a broad span of renewable energy research from X-ray battery imaging, tokamak plasma spectroscopy, LIDAR wind technologies to solar and voltaic cell development.

Applications & Techniques

Fuel Cells & Batteries

The study of fuel cells and batteries often involves probing the internal chemical and physical changes that occur in-operando during charging and discharging of batteries and loading and unloading of fuel cells. 

Common techniques to achieve this include complimentary X-ray and neutron imaging in situ studies, photoelectron spectroscopy and Raman spectroscopy. Modern science is helping to revolutionise the electrical and chemical storage capacity of batteries and fuel cells to enable the world to move towards a low carbon economy and future.

Contact our Applications Specialist

Solar & Photovoltaic Cells

Solar cells, also known as photovoltaic cells, directly transform energy into electricity from the sun. Solar cells are durable, compact and low maintenance energy sources. As solar cells have developed there has been an increasing drive to optimise and increase the efficiency of solar energy conversion rates. Currently the cost of solar cells is linked to the relatively low efficiency of modern panels and critically some research has turned to the development of new higher efficiency materials such as quantum dots, thin film coatings, and other 2D materials and additives. 

Some common techniques used in the development of solar cells includes low photoluminescence spectroscopy (PL) and Raman. In larger scale quality control solar cell production techniques such as laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS), optical emission spectroscopy (OES) and electroluminescence imaging.

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Fusion Research

Fusion, the nuclear reaction that powers the Sun and the stars, is a potential source of safe, non-carbon emitting and virtually limitless energy in the future. Nuclear fusion involves merging of two light nuclei to from a single heavier nucleus. The process then releases energy because the total mass of the resulting single nucleus is less than the mass of the two original nuclei. 

The loss of mass becomes energy as per E=mc2.  The road to producing nuclear fusion on earth is extremely challenging requiring a confluence of research across many scientific fields from Material Science to Nuclear Physics and Engineering to realise sustainable cost-effective fusion technology for energy production.

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Benefit from the Best

CCD and EMCCD Detection Solutions

Andor offers a comprehensive portfolio of deep cooled, back-illuminated CCD cameras, spanning a range of field of view requirements and offering optimized response across a very broad spectral range suited for a broad range of imaging and spectroscopy applications. 

Additionally, Andor’s range of market leading single photon sensitive iXon Ultra EMCCD Cameras offer truly high-end, yet accessible scientific imaging designed specifically to drive the absolute best from ultra-sensitive EMCCD technology. 

sCMOS Detection Solutions

Andor’s Scientific CMOS (sCMOS) cameras series deliver an advanced set of performance features that render them ideal for high fidelity, quantitative scientific measurements.

Providing a wide plethora of application advantages across energy generation and storage developmental research, Andor’s multi-megapixel cameras offer a large field of view and high resolution, without compromising noise, dynamic range or frame rate.

Time Resolved Intensified Camera Solutions

Andor’s market leading range of intensified CCD and sCMOS iStar cameras provide exceptional performance through high quantum efficiency image intensifiers combined with the high sensitivity, speed and dynamic range of CCD and sCMOS technology. Ideally positioned for time resolved imaging and spectroscopy applications.

X-Ray & Neutron Detection Solutions

Andor’s portfolio of CCD, sCMOS and EMCCD cameras provide a wide range of high sensitivity, high dynamic range and fast detection solutions for hard and soft x-ray imaging and spectroscopy experiments.

These detectors benefit especially applications in material development & chemical development of batteries in-operando and material structural inspection and analysis.

Low Temperature Optical Solutions

Andor offers a comprehensive range of optical cryostats optimised for microscopy and spectroscopy application in the <3K to 500K temperature range. Our Dry/Cryofree, Liquid Nitrogen and Helium options are available in both top and bottom loading configurations as well as sample-in-exchange gas or sample-in-vacuum designs.

Optistat optical cryostats are ideal for use on optical table-based experiments or can be used conjunction with a very broad range of 3rd party spectrometers and microscopy.

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