UC Santa Barbara Scientists Bottle the Sun with Liquid Battery

A new bio-inspired molecule captures solar energy and releases it as heat on demand, outperforming lithium-ion batteries.

Published on Feb. 13, 2026

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Chemists at UC Santa Barbara have developed a new material that captures sunlight, stores it within chemical bonds and releases it as heat on demand. The material, a modified organic molecule called pyrimidone, is the latest advancement in Molecular Solar Thermal (MOST) energy storage and can store more energy than traditional lithium-ion batteries.

Why it matters

This breakthrough in energy storage could enable new applications for renewable energy, such as off-grid heating and residential water heating, by providing a way to store solar energy and release it as heat when needed. The material's high energy density and ability to boil water make it a promising alternative to bulky battery systems.

The details

The pyrimidone molecule is designed to work like a mechanical spring - when exposed to sunlight, it twists into a strained, high-energy shape that can be stored and then released as heat when triggered. The team collaborated with researchers at UCLA to optimize the molecule's design for maximum energy density. In tests, the material was able to boil water, demonstrating its potential for practical applications.

  • The research was published in the journal Science on February 13, 2026.

The players

Grace Han

An associate professor at UC Santa Barbara and the lead researcher on the project.

Han Nguyen

A doctoral student in the Han Group and the lead author of the paper.

Ken Houk

A distinguished research professor at UCLA who collaborated with the team to understand the molecule's energy storage capabilities.

Benjamin Baker

A doctoral student in the Han Lab and a co-author of the paper.

Moore Inventor Fellowship

The research was supported by this fellowship, which Han received in 2025 to pursue the development of these 'rechargeable sun batteries.'

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What they’re saying

“The concept is reusable and recyclable. Think of photochromic sunglasses. When you're inside, they're just clear lenses. You walk out into the sun, and they darken on their own. Come back inside, and the lenses become clear again. That kind of reversible change is what we're interested in. Only instead of changing color, we want to use the same idea to store energy, release it when we need it, and then reuse the material over and over.”

— Han Nguyen, Doctoral student in the Han Group (The Current)

“We prioritized a lightweight, compact molecule design. For this project, we cut everything we didn't need. Anything that was unnecessary, we removed to make the molecule as compact as possible.”

— Han Nguyen, Doctoral student in the Han Group (The Current)

“Boiling water is an energy-intensive process. The fact that we can boil water under ambient conditions is a big achievement.”

— Han Nguyen, Doctoral student in the Han Group (The Current)

“With solar panels, you need an additional battery system to store the energy. With molecular solar thermal energy storage, the material itself is able to store that energy from sunlight.”

— Benjamin Baker, Doctoral student in the Han Lab (The Current)

What’s next

The researchers plan to continue optimizing the molecule's design and exploring potential commercial applications for the technology.

The takeaway

This breakthrough in energy storage technology could revolutionize the way we harness and store solar power, potentially enabling new renewable energy solutions that are more compact, efficient, and cost-effective than traditional battery systems.