Who Needs TV Remote Batteries? I Saw ‘Passive’ Solar Tech That’s Making Them Obsolete

CNET editor Jon Reed reports, “The solar technology Ambient Photonics presented at CES 2024 is cool and new and innovative…. The fact is, a solar cell that powers a small device using light it captures indoors isn’t all that revolutionary. I probably have a calculator powered by solar cells that is older than I am, but what Ambient Photonics demonstrated takes things to another level. These solar cells, made of two sheets of glass with a dye in between, capture energy from even very low-light indoor environments. The big change compared to the amorphous silicon solar cells in those old calculators is that these cells can yield about three times the energy.”