As early as last year, researchers at Ohio State University in the United States developed the so-called "the world's first rechargeable solar cell" to solve the current solar energy collection and storage problems. According to the latest news, the researchers developed an improved version of the first "water-based solar flow battery" based on this, is currently being tested in conjunction with traditional lithium-iodine batteries, the team claims the new technology can reduce solar energy conversion storage 20% of the energy lost in the process. US research and development of water-based solar flow battery can reduce 20% power loss It is reported that the original version of the integrated "rechargeable solar cell" working principle: titanium dioxide absorption of sunlight, when the sun shines on the mesh solar panels, the solar panels will produce electrons. Inside the battery, electrons generate energy by decomposing lithium oxide into lithium ions and oxygen. Oxygen is released through the netted solar panels, and lithium ions are stored in batteries as future sources of energy. As the solar panels and batteries are unified together, so the energy loss is reduced to a minimum. Different from the previous version, the new version does not use the traditional liquid electrode, water-based solar flow batteries using water as a solution, lithium iodide instead of electrolyte, can provide low-cost, high efficiency, high storage rate performance. The use of water-based liquid flow batteries do not need to operate under air conditions, so the design of single-layer solid-state solar panels can be used. The principle of solar panels also uses photosensitive solar panels. Through the charge-discharge experiments, solar flow batteries only need to be charged 2.9 volts, which can discharge 3.3 volts. Previous versions needed to charge up to 3.3 volts, a 20% improvement in efficiency. The researchers said the new all-in-one water-based solar flow batteries need more research to improve efficiency, is expected to be applied to large-scale grid storage and power generation of solar energy, or the future of electric vehicles such as "electrolyte fuel" and other new applications.