{"id":238803,"date":"2026-06-12T03:24:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:24:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/new-water-based-material-could-store-solar-energy-power-reactions-in-darkness-then-recharge"},"modified":"2026-06-12T03:24:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T08:24:26","slug":"new-water-based-material-could-store-solar-energy-power-reactions-in-darkness-then-recharge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/06\/new-water-based-material-could-store-solar-energy-power-reactions-in-darkness-then-recharge","title":{"rendered":"New water-based material could store solar energy, power reactions in darkness, then recharge"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1oXSY-keP7s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Northwestern University scientists have developed a new liquid material that charges like a battery, transforms like a living organism and then resets itself in open air. Traditionally, harvesting energy, storing it and using it require separate materials or devices. The new platform merges all three functions into a single material, opening the door for adaptive, clean, renewable systems that don\u2019t require plastics or metals.<\/p>\n<p>The study is <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cell.com\/chem\/abstract\/S2451-9294(26)00141-5\" target=\"_blank\">published<\/a> in <i>Chem<\/i>. It marks the first report of a material that stores energy by physically rebuilding itself.<\/p>\n<p>To design the material, the researchers drew inspiration from the <a href=\"https:\/\/phys.org\/news\/2025-01-polymer-based-network-artificial-cells.html?utm_source=embeddings&utm_medium=related&utm_campaign=internal\" rel=\"related\" target=\"_blank\">cytoskeleton <\/a>\u2014a cell\u2019s dynamic internal scaffold that enables it to maintain its shape, move and divide. Unlike animals\u2019 rigid skeletons, cytoskeletons constantly build, dismantle and rebuild themselves. Northwestern\u2019s new material behaves in a similar way, repeatedly assembling and disassembling as it stores and releases energy. But instead of running on biological fuels, it is powered by electrons harvested from sunlight, electricity, X-rays and other energy sources.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Northwestern University scientists have developed a new liquid material that charges like a battery, transforms like a living organism and then resets itself in open air. Traditionally, harvesting energy, storing it and using it require separate materials or devices. The new platform merges all three functions into a single material, opening the door for adaptive, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1633,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-238803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biological","category-solar-power","category-sustainability"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=238803"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/238803\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=238803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=238803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=238803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}