lead-free perovskite-inspired materials could enable battery-free devices
Researchers from Imperial College London, Soochow University in China, and the University of Cambridge have recently discovered that new green materials currently being developed for next-generation solar panels could be useful for indoor light harvesting. They report their findings today in Advanced Energy Materials. They have developed eco-friendly materials that could yield enough energy from indoor light to power wireless smart devices.
Why is this a need of the hour?
The reason is that, in the recent decade, we have completely gone tech-savvy, using smart gadgets like smartphones, smart speakers and other wearable health and wellness sensors in our public, private and professional spaces. However, the batteries these devices use can deplete quickly and it also contains toxic and environmentally damaging chemicals. One alternative was to convert indoor light from ordinary bulbs into energy, exactly like how solar panels harvest energy from sunlight, known as solar photovoltaics. However, due to the different properties of the light sources, the materials used for solar panels are not suitable for harvesting indoor light.
So this new breakthrough is the right step for sustainable development.
Co-author Dr Robert Hoye, from the Department of Materials at Imperial, said that the materials they investigated could turn light into electricity with an efficiency already in the range of commercial technologies, by efficiently absorbing the light coming from lamps commonly found in homes and buildings. They had also identified several possible improvements, which would allow these materials to surpass the performance of current indoor photovoltaic technologies in the near future.
The team studied ‘perovskite-inspired materials‘, which were created to circumvent problems with materials called perovskites, developed for next-generation solar cells. Although perovskites are cheaper to make than traditional silicon-based solar panels and deliver similar efficiency, perovskites contain toxic lead substances. This drove the development of perovskite-inspired materials, which use safer elements like bismuth and antimony.
Perovskite-inspired materials are more environmentally friendly, but not efficient enough at absorbing sunlight. The team, however, found that these are much more effective at absorbing indoor light, with efficiencies that are promising for commercial applications. The researchers crucially demonstrated that the power provided by these materials under indoor illumination is already sufficient to operate electronic circuits.
Co-author Professor Vincenzo Pecunia, from Soochow University, says that this discovery opens up a whole new direction in the search for green, easy-to-make materials to sustainably power these smart devices.
Also due to their eco-friendly nature, these materials could potentially be processed onto unconventional substrates such as plastics and fabric, which are incompatible with conventional technologies.
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