Scientists have developed a daylight-powered supercapacitor, or picture-capacitor, that may each seize photo voltaic vitality and retailer it on a single system.
Conventional photo voltaic methods use two separate elements: photo voltaic panels to generate electrical energy; and batteries or supercapacitors to retailer it. This separation requires extra electronics to handle voltage and present variations, including to value, complexity, vitality loss and system dimension.
Researchers on the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS), Bengaluru, have now built-in these two features. Their picture-rechargeable supercapacitor converts daylight into electrical energy and shops it straight, simplifying system design and enhancing effectivity.
The key materials is a community of nickel-cobalt oxide nanowires grown on nickel foam by a hydrothermal course of. The nanowires type a porous, extremely conductive 3D construction that each absorbs daylight and shops cost, permitting the identical materials to behave as photo voltaic harvester and storage electrode.
Under illumination, the system confirmed a 54 per cent rise in capacitance (vitality storage capability). It additionally retained 85 per cent of efficiency after 10,000 cost–discharge cycles, indicating sturdiness.
A prototype uneven system — utilizing activated carbon because the counter-electrode — delivered about 1.2 volts output and remained secure throughout completely different gentle intensities, from indoor lighting to sturdy daylight.
The materials’s effectivity is linked to its digital construction: nickel substitution narrows the band hole and improves cost transport, enabling quicker storage of sunshine-generated electrons. The expertise may help self-charging energy methods for wearables, sensors and distant gadgets, lowering reliance on standard batteries.
AI-led local weather resilience
The Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar, (IITGN) has launched an AI resilience and command centre (ARC) to strengthen information-pushed local weather threat administration and concrete resilience in India.
Located on the IITGN Research Park, the centre is designed to combine flood forecasting, mobility impacts and operational resolution-making right into a single AI-enabled platform. Its “rain-to-resilience” framework combines bodily science fashions with synthetic intelligence to evaluate flood dangers in actual time, run situation simulations and help emergency planning.
The ARC deploys resolution help instruments developed by AIResQ ClimSols, an IITGN-incubated deep-tech agency. “These tools enable faster simulations, real-time flood prediction and ‘what-if’ analysis while maintaining scientific accuracy,” says a press launch from the establishment.
Developed by analysis at IITGN’s Machine Intelligence and Resilience (MIR) Lab, the initiative goals to bridge the hole between superior analytics and on-floor city governance. The focus is on translating local weather and infrastructure dangers into actionable insights that metropolis authorities can use to prioritise sources and coordinate responses.
Researchers concerned within the venture emphasise water as a central city problem — each shortage and flooding — affecting infrastructure, mobility and livelihoods. The ARC platform is meant to assist cities anticipate such dangers reasonably than reply after injury happens.
By bringing collectively academia, authorities and expertise companions, the centre seeks to transform analysis into deployable public-sector instruments. Its broader purpose is to help safer, local weather-resilient city improvement by information-backed planning and actual-time resolution help.
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Published on February 9, 2026