Light infantry

A modern infantry soldier can carry up to 70kg of kit, around 25 per cent of which is the weight of batteries, powering essential equipment such as radios, night vision and gun sights. A joint EPSRC/DSTL project aims to develop combined photovoltaic (PV) and thermoelectric (TE) technology that could significantly reduce or even eliminate a soldier's reliance on batteries.

The project, in collaboration with

and involving

,

,

,

and

universities, will address how to integrate the two technologies while not adversely affecting the soldier's movement. Principal investigator Prof Duncan Gregory, head of inorganic chemistry at

, explained: 'We need to initially show that we can grow films or nanostructures of both materials on a single substrate on a small scale.

'To demonstrate that this could be part of a system, we'd start off using a battery then gradually decrease reliance on it, using energy that our new device harvests to keep the solider going and cut down battery weight. Ultimately, we may be able to remove the battery altogether.'