First rechargeable solar battery

• It’s a solar cell! No… it’s a rechargeable lithium-air battery! No… wait… it’s both: It’s the world’s first all-in-one solar battery!
• Integrating the function of a solar panel that captures light, and a cheap battery that stores energy into one hybrid device, researchers have successfully invented the world’s first solar battery.

• The device will help bring down the costs of renewable energy by 25 percent, the researchers said.The key to the innovation is a mesh solar panel that allows air to enter the battery, and a special process for transferring electrons between the solar panel and the battery electrode.Inside the device, light and oxygen enable different parts of the chemical reactions that charge the battery.
• The invention also solves a longstanding problem in solar energy efficiency, by eliminating the loss of electricity that normally occurs when electrons have to travel between a solar cell and an external battery.
• “With this new design, light is converted to electrons inside the battery, so nearly 100 percent of the electrons are saved,” the researchers said. 

http://www.extremetech.com/extreme/191438-this-air-breathing-solar-panel-stores-its-own-electricity-cutting-the-cost-of-solar-power-significantly