By David Drucker
October 13, 2026 at 3:00pm
A U.S. soldier may carry up to 20 pounds of batteries to power communications equipment and other electronics on missions. New research from FIU could help lighten that load.
Backed by a $10 million grant from the Department of War, a team of FIU engineers has developed a dual-use, razor-thin solar device that can harvest sunlight to generate electricity and then also produce light.
This innovation, which the researchers call “SOLED” — half solar panel, half light-emitting diode (LED) — is well-suited for wearable power systems and could be stitched onto a soldier’s uniform or gear, giving troops working in remote locations a stealthy way to generate power without the noise, heat or bulk of a generator. It could also enable new kinds of displays, sensors and other optoelectronic devices, giving warfighters greater flexibility in a contested logistics environment when supply routes are threatened. The work was published in the journal NanoEnergy.
“When you can turn sunlight into power and then use that same panel to produce light, you’re potentially reducing a dependency on batteries, on generators and on resupply,” said Daniela Radu, lead researcher and FIU College of Engineering & Computing mechanical and materials engineering interim chair. “This is how we can increase energy resilience at the level of individual soldiers.”
The device is built with a versatile semiconductor material, called perovskite, that converts sunlight to electricity at up to 22% efficiency, competitive with commercial solar technology. Run in reverse, it can emit light at nearly 11% efficiency, a significant jump over earlier versions of the technology, the research team says.
The light itself isn’t bright to the naked eye. With peak emission at 818 nanometers, just past the edge of visible light, it appears as a pink glow. But that’s still useful: night-vision sensors, biometric scanners and medical imaging equipment all read wavelengths like this one. The team is currently working to make the panels visibly brighter.
This research grows out of the broader Department of War grant focused on resilient, quiet energy for troops in the field.
Radu leads the Center of Excellence for Integrated Resilient Energy and Energy Storage (CIREES), established with the $10 million investment from the Department of War. FIU leads this multiyear project, which includes collaborators from Pennsylvania State University, toward finding new energy solutions that support DoW’s strategic commitment to making warfighter energy resilience a national security priority.
Next, the researchers are working to make the technology at larger sizes.
While this is a difficult task because the panel is multi-layered and thin, the team has steadily scaled without issue so far, says Neetesh Kumar, an FIU assistant research professor and lead author on the study.
A 1.1-square-centimeter device maintained a power-conversion efficiency of more than 20%, showing that the technology can perform beyond the smallest lab samples. 
”Most solar cells made of these materials are tested at around 0.1 square centimeters in the research phase, because that’s what standard lab equipment is built for,” Kumar said. ”We pushed ours to 1.1 and then 2.1 square centimeters and still saw strong performance. Our next goal is to keep scaling toward panel sizes that can go in a product.”
Search
Receive daily FIU stories and updates directly to your inbox.
Submit a story or give us feedback, we want to hear from you.
© 2026 Florida International University | Website by Digital Communications | Website Feedback | Web/Accessibility | Privacy Policy | Sitemap

source