Credit: Ohio State University

Credit: Ohio State University

Costs on solar are coming down steeply, and now they’re about to get even cheaper. A group of chemists at Ohio State University has invented a solar panel that stores energy without an external battery. The self-contained tuner/capacitor panels are already being licensed to industry.

Above, you can see a scanning electron microscope image of the mesh solar panel, whose molecular structure allows oxygen to enter the device and assist in a chemical reaction that powers its onboard battery.

Ohio State University released a statement about the new devices, which they’re calling “solar batteries”:

“In the October 3, 2014 issue of the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that they’ve succeeded in combining a battery and a solar cell into one hybrid device.Key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel, which allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery electrode. Inside the device, light and oxygen enable different parts of […]

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