Light-Rechargeable Batteries: A New Tool to Fight Climate Change?

Professor Michael De Volder

• 14 March 2022, 18:30 – 19:30
• Babbage Lecture Theatre

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• Event cost: Free
• Disabled access?: Yes
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Overview

This talk will introduce a new type of battery electrode that can be recharged directly by light, without the need for external solar cells or external power supplies. These devices may change the way we power off-grid devices and provide a tool to fight energy poverty in developing communities. However, this is an emerging technology that still suffers from tremendous challenges that need to be solved before we can dream of commercialising it. In this talk, I will first discuss the operating principles of light-rechargeable batteries and in particular how they are able to harvest solar energy and store it. Then I will discuss challenges related to the stability of these devices and their light conversion efficiency. Finally, I will give an outlook of the challenges related to the scale-up manufacturing and commercialisation of these systems as well as the role they might play on the long term in fighting energy poverty and climate change.

Biography

Professor of Advanced Materials Engineering, Institute for Manufacturing, University of Cambridge.

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