Super fast quantum battery plan. Credit: CNR– Politecnico di Milano
Researchers from the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the Cnr and the Politecnico di Milano have developed a battery which, following the laws of quantum physics, has a recharge time that is inversely related to the amount of stored energy.
Quantum batteries are a brand-new class of energy storage gadgets that operate according to the concepts of quantum physics, the science that studies the definitely small where the laws of classical physics do not always apply. Tersilla Virgili of the Institute of Photonics and Nanotechnologies of the National Research Council (Cnr-Ifn) and Giulio Cerullo of the Physics Department of the Politecnico di Milano have shown that it is possible to produce a type of quantum battery where the charging power boosts faster by increasing the battery capability. The work, performed together with other international research groups, was released in Science Advances.
” Quantum batteries have a counter-intuitive residential or commercial property in which the recharge time is inversely related to the battery capability, that is the amount of stored electrical charge,” explains Virgili. “This leads to the intriguing idea that the charging power of quantum batteries is super-extensive, meaning that it increases quicker with battery size.”
The made device is a microcavity in which the active material includes natural particles dispersed in an inert matrix. “Each molecule represents a system that can exist in a quantum superposition state of 2 energy levels (excited and essential), similar to the way a qubit, the standard unit of quantum info, can be both 0 and 1 at the same time in quantum computer systems,” Cerullo defines.
By building the quantum battery in such a way that systems can exist in superposition, the total system can act collectively. This habits, referred to as quantum coherence, enables the units to act cooperatively, generating a hyper-fast charge that depends upon the variety of molecule-units.
” In the future this kind of gadget can be used in numerous scientific and technological fields such as wireless chargers, solar batteries, and cams,” concludes Virgili.
Reference: “Superabsorption in an organic microcavity: Toward a quantum battery” by James Q. Quach, Kirsty E. McGhee, Lucia Ganzer, Dominic M. Rouse, Brendon W. Lovett, Erik M. Gauger, Jonathan Keeling, Giulio Cerullo, David G. Lidzey and Tersilla Virgili, 14 January 2022, Science Advances.DOI: 10.1126/ sciadv.abk3160.