Quantum batteries that challenge what we know about how these devices are charged

Conventional batteries rely on chemical reactions that send 10 trillion trillion electrons or more through the device they power. It sounds impressive, but some consider this technology obsolete.

“Despite significant technological improvements, modern batteries still rely on electrochemical processes first explored more than two centuries ago.” says Dario Ferraro, associate professor of Physics at the University of Genoa, Italy.

This has led some researchers to explore quantum batteries: batteries that are powered by quantum effects rather than chemical reactions.

The world of the infinitely small is surprisingly strange.

And quantum mechanics is no stranger to mind-blowing concepts, from entangled particles that influence each other over vast distances to time flowing backwards.

The research that laid the foundations for quantum batteries initially arose from curiosity about what laws of classical physics could be altered in the quantum world.

A seminal 2015 paper showed that quantum entanglement means quantum batteries could be charged and discharged more efficiently than conventional ones.

“The key is that quantum batteries do not focus on storing large amounts of energy, but on delivering it faster and with greater control”says Ferraro.

Quach has tested a way to harness these quantum effects to power a battery.

It uses an optical microcavity, an experimental setup in which two tiny mirrors are placed 100 nanometers apart, a separation roughly 1,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair.

It fills the small space between the mirrors with organic dye molecules and then directs a laser beam at them.

Using this method, light and molecules strongly couple and form hybrid states of light and matter, enhancing the system’s ability to absorb and store energy: an effect known as super absorption.

Super absorption is responsible for the most surprising property of the battery.

In classical physics, molecules are small individual entities: each acts on its own and absorbs energy at a rate independent of the molecules around it.

But, under quantum effects, they behave in a somewhat more collective way: “They act in unison and in synergy”explains Quach, “so the rate at which energy can be absorbed increases with the number of molecules”.

This means that the more molecules there are —that is, the larger the battery—, the faster it will load.

The Quach prototype took femtoseconds—billionths of a second—to charge and stored the energy for nanoseconds, about six orders of magnitude longer.

Quach and his team demonstrated this feat for the first time in 2022.

In March 2026, they added a new layer and managed to extract an electrical current from the prototype.

If it were stronger, this current could be used to charge devices.

Quach’s optical microcavity method is not the only way to make a quantum battery.

Another approach, for example, uses superconducting materials, already widely used in quantum computing.

A big advantage of Quach’s design is that it works at room temperature. Superconducting designs only operate at cryogenic temperatures below −150 °C (−238 °F).

“This is fine for quantum computers, but not as useful for powering a mobile phone.,” says Quach.

“If the goal is to demonstrate that the quantum charge advantage is a real physical phenomenon… the optical microcavities route is the strongest bet”, explains, for his part, Mauro Paternostro, quantum physicist at Queen’s University of Belfast.

However, Paternostro believes that in the long term the superconducting design could have an advantage in practical applications, since it facilitates energy extraction.

“A microcavity offers an excellent overall demonstration, but poor control when it comes to recovering energy in a useful and targeted way“, sentence.

Quach’s most recent experiment is a tentative first step toward a quantum battery that could one day replace conventional ones.

However, for now the prototype can only store a tiny amount of energy —a few billion electron volts—for a few nanoseconds.

To power conventional devices, you would need to store much more energy for much longer.

Quach claims that he has already achieved this with a new design he has built and is preparing an article to publish the results.

Use “a hybrid structure” he explains, which incorporates quantum components to enable ultra-fast charging, along with added classical layers to store the energy for longer.

It also plans to combine numerous microscopic quantum batteries to increase its total capacity.

“If we achieve both, we will be on our way to being able to power a conventional device”, he states.

Still, other scientists are skeptical, given that Quantum effects are notoriously fragile and are easily disturbed by observation or interference.

“Interactions with the environment can rapidly degrade quantum effects, limiting both performance and scalability”says Ferraro.

This could negate some of the expected benefits of quantum batteries.

Addressing this issue, he points out, is “finstrumental in taking quantum batteries from theory to real-world applications”.

Advances in quantum batteries—if they come to fruition—will likely impact quantum computing first.

Quantum computers promise to one day perform tasks faster than the fastest supercomputers, and technology experts have warned they could endanger encryption on a global scale.

Others, however, are more skeptical.

A recent study, for example, placed quantum computers—along with fusion energy and brain-computer interfaces—among the technologies perpetually described as coming “within five years.”

However, Quach maintains that he will probably be able to power quantum devices with quantum batteries in his laboratory in the coming years.

If achieved, this could reduce the energy consumption of quantum computersin addition to make them faster and less prone to errorswhich would allow expand your capacity more quickly, he says.

Quach shows mWe are not sure about using it to power conventional devices.

He notes that one day it could be viable, since the fact that the battery is charged with a laser means it could potentially “charge electric vehicles on the move”.

This would completely eliminate the need for drivers to stop to recharge.

Ferraro, however, is skeptical that quantum batteries will become widespread.outside the scope of quantum applications.

“In my opinion… quantum batteries are unlikely to replace conventional ones in everyday applications, such as mobile phones or electric vehicles“, he affirms. “SYour natural realm is the quantum scale”.

The big pending problem today, according to Paternostro, is to take advantage of the advantage of quantum charging and, at the same time, extract the energy in a controlled and usable state.

Whoever achieves it, assures, “hyou have achieved true progress”.