Quantum physics deals with the behavior of matter and light on the atomic and subatomic scale, according to Britannica. The science attempts to unravel their properties, including their mutual interaction, and their relationship with light, x-rays, and gamma rays. Physics World pondered whether quantum batteries could harvest energy from light, and we decided to take up the story.
How Could Quantum Batteries Achieve This?
The time to charge a physical battery increases with size, according to Physics World. However, the opposite applies in the case of quantum physical mechanics, where energy absorption capacity is greater with larger batteries. This could in theory allow us to create huge, super-energy-efficient batteries. However, none of this has to do with current reality.
Science Advances published a report on January 14, 2022 that attempted to bring quantum batteries closer to reality. Click on the link below if you would like to follow that thread further. However, the most important take-away is that James Quach and his colleagues discovered a method to create quantum batteries from molecules of an organic dye.
The particular dye named Lumogen-F Orange displayed the ability to morph between two different states:
- A ‘ground state’ with minimal energy.
- An ‘excited state’ with higher energy.
The researchers discovered they could cause the dye to ‘jump to the excited state’ by aiming a laser at it, at a particular wavelength. We could compare this process to charging a battery, at least at the theoretical level.
Tweaking This Virtual Battery Into the Future
James Quach and his colleagues first had to develop an ‘ultra-fast measurement technique’ to gauge the shift between the two states. This enabled them to assess the impact of trialing different concentrations of the dye, in order to establish their photon-trapping potential. But could this lead to a useful battery someday?
“At the moment, the proof-of-principle devices we made are still quite small, and the charging occurs with light. So immediate applications would need to work with those constraints,” Quach explains. “Since super-absorption is a general quantum mechanical phenomenon,” he adds enigmatically , “it may manifest in other systems as well”.
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