The team is now in discussions with industry partners to scale up production and integrate the sponge system into larger, solar-powered arrays. They’re also considering integrating IoT sensors – hardware components that measure variables like temperature, pressure and motion – to automate the process based on real-time environmental conditions.
“Solar panels combined with thermal energy storage could enable round-the-clock operation, particularly in areas with intermittent sunlight,” Hao concluded in a press release.