Researchers Look to Mount Solar Cells in Smartphone Screens

 

CAMBRIDGE, UK - Making a cell phone that requires less charging is something that is being heavily researched at the moment and a team from the University of Cambridge is making incredible advances with a technology known as small-scale wireless energy harvesting.

A researcher at the University of Cambridge, Arman Ahnood, who is working with a team led by Arokia Nathan, an IEEE fellow, explained that with this new technology the need to charge cell phones could become a thing of the past.

The prototype device that has been built by the scientists uses a thin-film hydrogenated amorphous silicon that sits on top of a handset's screen and uses an array of solar cells that convert ambient light into electricity. The large footprint of most modern smartphones is something that these new photovoltaic (PV) cells can really make use of, harnessing the excess light they generate, which is usually lost.

The use of this kind of technology is currently not ready for commercial release as it is still in the prototype phase but the latest advancement are bringing it closer than ever.