A new way of capturing and storing energy from sunlight. Photoswitches are not ready for prime time yet, but the principle has been demonstrated.
Scientists Discover How to Generate Solar Power in the Dark
Meet ‘photoswitches,' a breakthrough set of materials that act as their own batteries, absorbing energy and releasing it on demand.
The next big thing in solar energy could be microscopic.
Scientists at MIT and Harvard University have devised a way to store solar energy in molecules that can then be tapped to heat homes, water or used for cooking.
The best part: The molecules can store the heat forever and be endlessly re-used while emitting absolutely no greenhouse gases. Scientists remain a way’s off in building this perpetual heat machine but they have succeeded in the laboratory at demonstrating the viability of the phenomenon called photoswitching.
“Some molecules, known as photoswitches, can assume either of two different shapes, as if they had a hinge in the middle,” MIT researchers said in statement about the paper published in the journal Nature Chemistry. “Exposing them to sunlight causes them to absorb energy and jump from one configuration to the other, which is then stable for long periods of time.”
See Also:
Sepp Hasslberger @ Phi Beta Iota
