Your household gadgets could soon be battery-free — scientists create tiny solar cells that can be powered by indoor light
A range of personal and home devices could one day work without battery after the development of new pioneering solar technologies.
These new solar cells are able to harvest energy from inner light. The researchers said that discovery has wide applications and could allow consumers to feed devices such as keyboards, alarms and sensors using only interior ambient light.
In the study, published on April 30 in the journal Advanced functional materialsThe researchers used perovskitis to collect light in the solar cells. This material is already used in other solar cells and offers separate advantages to traditional silicon -based solar panels. In particular, perovskitis more effectively absorbs ambient light with lower power than traditional methods, depending on the study, which makes it ideal for use inside.
The new perovskite cells for researchers were six times more effective than silicon -based solar cells, the researchers revealed.
In the long term, solar cells derived from perovskite represent a more sustainable and profitable alternative to batteries, the said co-author of the study Mojtaba Abdi JalebiAssociate professor in terms of energy at the University College London ‘Institute for Materials Discovery.
“Billions of devices that require small amounts of energy are based on battery replacements – an unsustainable practice. This number will increase as the Internet of Things develops,” said Jalebi in a statement.
In relation: EV batteries could last much longer thanks to a new capacitor with a higher energy density of 19 times higher than scientists have mistakenly created
“Currently, solar cells capturing energy from inner light are costly and ineffective. Our specially designed perovskite solar cells can harvest much more energy than commercial cells and are more durable than other prototypes. It opens the way to electronics powered by the ambient light already present in our lives.”
Composition challenges of perovskite
Perovskite already becomes a popular material to use in solar panels, with Berties marked compared to silicon -based materials.
However, although its applications are promising, the equipment has several drawbacks concerning stability and longevity.
A key factor is here in the “traps” – the tiny defects in the crystal structure of the perovskite. These traps lead to electrons wedged by tiny defects and indentations in the material, thus preventing the energy from being exploited.
What could be more, while the traps inhibit the flow of electricity, they also accelerate the degradation of the material over time, due to the non -linear load flow through the material.
To counter this, researchers behind the new study used a combination of chemicals to reduce the volume of these faults. This included the application of Rubidium chloride, which “encouraged more homogeneous” growth of perovskite crystals and reduced the density of the traps, representatives said in the press release.
Two other chemicals – N, N -Dimethyloctylammonium iodide (DMOAI) and phenethylammonium chloride (PEACL), both organic salts of ammonium – have also been applied to stabilize two types of ions (iodide and bromide) and prevent them from separating. This helped to resolve the long -term degradation of performance in the solar cell, noted the study.
“The solar cell with these tiny defects is like a cake cut into pieces. Thanks to a combination of strategies, we have gone up this cake, allowing it to cross it more easily,” said the first author of the study, Huang simulation, a doctoral student at UCL’s for Material Discovery.
Performance advantages marked
After addressing the question of traps, the researchers discovered that their solar cells had converted 37.6% of the inner light into electricity. This was done at 1,000 lux, said the researchers, or the equivalent of a “well -lit office”.
Long -term sustainability has also improved, the study revealed, solar cells retaining 92% of their performance over 100 days. In comparison, a control device where the perovskite had not been modified to eliminate the defects kept 76% of its initial performance.
Jalebi said that the team was in discussion with industry stakeholders to “explore scale strategies and commercial deployment” from Pérovskite solar cells.
“The advantage of perovskite solar cells in particular is that they are at low cost – they use abundant materials on earth and require only simple treatment. They can be printed in the same way as a newspaper,” said Jalebi.
