A research team at Kyushu University has developed a solid-state molecular material that “upgrades” visible light into ultraviolet (UV) light under ordinary outdoor sunlight, achieving a conversion efficiency of 1.9%. The study was published in Nature Communications on June 23.

For more information about this research, see “Sterically Protected π-Electron Systems for Efficient Solid-State Photon Upconversion,” Naoyuki Harada, Hayato Shoyama, Nutnicha Boonmong, Kiichi Mizukami, Yuya Watanabe, Pei Zhao, Masahiro Ehara, Yoichi Sasaki, Nobuo Kimizuka, Nature Communications, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-026-73898-0