A U.S. soldier may carry up to 20 pounds of batteries to power communications equipment and other electronics on missions. New research from FIU could help lighten that load.
Backed by a $10 million grant from the Department of War, a team of FIU engineers has developed a dual-use, razor-thin solar device that can harvest sunlight to generate electricity and then also produce light.
This innovation, which the researchers call "SOLED" — half solar panel, half light-emitting diode (LED) — is well-suited for wearable power systems and could be stitched onto a soldier's uniform or gear, giving troops working in remote locations a stealthy way to generate power without the noise, heat or bulk of a generator. It could also enable new kinds of displays, sensors and other optoelectronic devices, giving warfighters greater flexibility in a contested logistics environment when supply routes are threatened. The work was published in the journal NanoEnergy.
"When you can turn sunlight into power and then use that same panel to produce light, you're potentially reducing a dependency on batteries, on generators and on resupply," said Daniela Radu, lead researcher and FIU College of Engineering & Computing mechanical and materials engineering interim chair. "This is how we can increase energy resilience at the level of individual soldiers."
The device is built with a versatile semiconductor material, called perovskite, that converts sunlight to electricity at up to 22% efficiency, competitive with commercial solar technology. Run in reverse, it can emit light at nearly 11% efficiency, a significant jump over earlier versions of the technology, the research team says.
