"In your home, you probably have a handful of gadgets that rely on batteries: remotes, smoke detectors, wireless keyboards. But instead of having to replace those batteries again and again, those devices could one day be powered by solar panels that harvest energy from your indoor lights. The idea of an indoor solar panel sounds contradictory; our lamps and overhead lighting aren't the same as the sun. But indoor solar panels have been in development for years."
"Perovskite crystal structure often has defects that interrupt the flow of electricity and degrades the material over time, but the material also has its positives: It can actually be turned into an ink, which is then laid down in thin layers. This means it can essentially be printed, like a newspaper. "So in principle," Abdi-Jalebi says, "you could roll out large sheets of solar cells quickly and cheaply." That differs from regular silicon solar panels, which require high-temperature, expensive manufacturing processes."
Many household gadgets rely on batteries that could instead be powered by panels harvesting energy from indoor lighting. Researchers developed perovskite-based indoor solar cells about six times more efficient than today's commercial indoor photovoltaics and potentially low-cost to produce. Perovskite materials absorb a wide range of light even in thin layers and can be formulated as an ink for printing large sheets of cells quickly and cheaply. Perovskite crystals can have defects that degrade performance, but tuning the material for indoor light improves efficiency. The approach contrasts with silicon panels that require high-temperature, costly manufacturing.
Read at Fast Company
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