The Perovskite-Info newsletter (August 9, 2022)

Researchers from the University of Surrey's Advanced Technology Institute (ATI), KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence at the University of Cyprus, China's Zhengzhou University, and the UK's National Physical Laboratory (NPL) have demonstrated a new photo-rechargeable system, which merges zinc-ion batteries with perovskite solar cells.

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(a) device configuration and (b) working principle of the integrated flexible photo-rechargeable system. Credit: Energy Storage Materials

The new system could allow wearables to charge without the need to plug in. In fact, as little as thirty seconds of sunlight could boost the battery life of future smartwatches and other wearables by tens of minutes. The new environmentally friendly, photo-rechargeable system is unique because of its elegant design between the integrated battery and solar cell, allowing it to demonstrate high energy and volume density comparable to state-of-the-art micro-batteries and supercapacitors. 

A UK-based quantum software company called Phasecraft will lead a project modelling new perovskite-silicon materials for solar photovoltaics. The project, in collaboration with Oxford PV and scientists at University College London (UCL), is aimed to support the development of quantum computing to simulate “currently intractable problems” in PV materials modelling, according to a recent statement.

Not many details were given regarding the new project, which received an award from UK Research and Innovation’s Commercializing Quantum Technologies Challenge. It was, however, said that it will set out to develop a modelling capability that is tailored to the real-world needs of the PV industry.