Editorial: Energy materials based novel solar thermal applications

Abstract

With increasing apprehensions over global warming and environmental issues, the need to develop renewable energy is becoming more critical to secure our future energy needs. Solar energy is the most abundant source of energy and is easily accessible. However, making efficient use of solar energy is not an easy task. Energy materials, especially in their micro and nanoscale, have an excellent potential for absorbing, transferring, and storing solar energy when they are dispersed in an aqueous medium embedded on a surface. Various applications relevant to heat transfer, energy conversion, and storage have increasingly used nanoparticles due to their ability to absorb, store, and carry heat. However, successful deployment of materials in energy harvesting and storage applications must also consider some of the very fundamental challenges, including but not limited to sedimentation, entrainment, stability, and life of these potential energy materials. This Research Topic is designed to attract original research and review articles on AI based solar energy optimization, challenges, innovative applications and numerical studies in materials for energy capture, transfer, and storage to have a safe future in terms of solar energy utilization. Keywords: AI in solar energy, Energy optimization, Heat transfer intensification, Nanomaterials, Solar PV, Solar PVT, Solar thermal collector