There is always something to learn from the past, especially in the world of physics. This was evident in the case where Cambridge experts approached solar’s last frontier, as a past theory led them to develop a new material that produces a quantic effect. This development was impossible in 1883, but this particular past theory made it nearly real in 2026. Soon, we may be witnessing history in the making as solar technology steps into the next generation. Discover more about this newly developed material below.
Impossible in 1883, nearly real in 2026
The solar panels we all know today can be historically traced back to 1883 in the U.S. This was when Charles Fritts invented the first-of-its-kind solar cell, which functioned by converting light into power. The semiconductor material, selenium, was coated with a wafer-thin gold layer. Naturally, Fritts’s invention was based on historical theories of the photovoltaic effect and selenium’s photoconductivity.
However, it was nearly a century later that a groundbreaking theoretical physicist, who once taught at Cambridge, created theories that later became the foundation of modern Cambridge experts’ approach to reaching the last frontier of solar. Their historical theory-based discovery would certainly not have been possible in 1883, but it is nearly real in 2026.
Cambridge experts approach solar’s last frontier
Cambridge experts, consisting of Professor Hugo Bronstein’s synthetic chemistry team from the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry and Professor Sir Richard Friend’s semiconductor physics team from the Physics Department, discovered the impossible thanks to the groundwork laid by Sir Nevill Mott. According to Professor Friend, it was truly a full-circle moment.
They created a newly developed solar material that holds significant benefits for future solar panel production, as solar technology could soon be:
- More cost-effective,
- More lightweight, and
- Much easier to produce
All of this will be possible as this newly developed material proves that only one material is needed to create a power-producing solar panel. Compared to traditional panels, which consist of several layers, such as in the case of commercially-launched perovskite-silicon tandem solar panels, it will open a whole new, more sustainable world.
Newly developed material producing a quantic effect
So, what is this groundbreaking newly developed material? The Cambridge experts developed an organic semiconductor molecule known as P3TTM. This unique molecule showcases electronic and magnetic properties, which can be attributed to one unpaired electron at the center of the P3TTM. What’s more interesting is that the P3TTM behaves similarly to a Mott-Hubbard insulator.
The Cavendish Laboratory’s lead researcher, Biwen Li, explained the behaviour:
“…in our system, when the molecules pack together the interaction between the unpaired electrons on neighbouring sites encourages them to align themselves alternately up and down, a hallmark of Mott-Hubbard behaviour. Upon absorbing light one of these electrons hops onto its nearest neighbour creating positive and negative charges which can be extracted to give a photocurrent (electricity).”
Professor Friend believes his career and current knowledge of semiconductors would not be possible without Mott’s theories as a foundation. He added that witnessing scholarly quantum mechanical theories exhibiting newly developed organic materials for the sole purpose of harvesting light could only be described as “truly special.” Research on the scalability of P3TTM will now be prioritized.
This groundbreaking discovery will not only make solar technology production simpler and more affordable, but it will also inevitably encourage the transition to renewable technologies, as accessibility to solar power will increase. Furthermore, by opting for organic materials instead of the typical multiple-layer materials used in traditional solar technology, solar solutions become greener and more sustainable. Meanwhile, Australia believes it has the material that will be the ultimate game-changer in the solar world.
If you want to learn more about this discovery, you can consult the full study: Li, B., Murto, P., Chowdhury, R. et al. Intrinsic intermolecular photoinduced charge separation in organic radical semiconductors, Nat. Mater. (2025). DOI : 10.1038/s41563-025-02362-z
