Researchers at Oxford University's Department of Physics have unveiled a revolutionary material capable of generating significant amounts of solar electricity. The new material can be applied to various items such as backpacks, cars and smartphones. The innovative material consists of several layers that absorb light. It is thin and flexible, allowing it to be applied to almost any surface. Using a multi-junction approach, it is able to convert more than 27% of sunlight into energy, which is comparable to the efficiency of traditional silicon photovoltaic cells. The new material is just over 1 micron thick, almost 150 times smaller than silicon wafers. As stated by the authors of the project, perovskite coatings can be used on a wider range of objects to generate cheap solar energy, including the roofs of cars and buildings, as well as the back panels of cell phones. In the future, the scientists plan to improve the performance of their development by increasing the efficiency from 27% to 45%.