A group of students from Foligno creates a solar cover for smartphones

The product is made of recycled nylon and the price on the market is 29.99 euros.For their invention the students have already won a prize that repays their efforts.

There are many Italian inventors and scholars who have written pages in the history of world science.From Guglielmo Marconi's radio to Alessandro Volta's battery, passing through Antonio Meucci's telephone.All inventions that have changed our lives forever.Today like yesterday, a group of boys and girls from class 5B ofScarpellini technical institute of Foligno, in the province of Perugia, has created a revolutionary product:a mobile phone charging cover a solar energy.

To charge your cell phone anywhere

Made entirely in recycled nylon and equipped with an integrated solar panel, the cover has already been placed on the market at the price of 29.99 euros.Thanks to their invention, the boys won a prize of 1,500 euros to the competition Baldoni Italy and they imagined starting a company for the production of cell phone covers called RecoverR which, who knows, one day could also become a full-fledged company.In the age of perpetual connection, the device provides the possibility of charging your smartphone in any situation, even the most remote, using only the natural and infinite energy of the sun.Lightweight and resistant, the cover also adapts to different smartphone models.

The eco-sustainable cover for everyone

“The idea was to take an object of daily use and transform it into something more that takes into account the issue of eco-sustainability", he explains to LifeGate Samuele Petrini, one of the guys involved in the project.The students began by making a prototype of the cover 3D printed.The product is also water resistant and it doesn't make the phone heat up as it doesn't let the heat through.“The cover is suitable for all ages – adds Petrini – everyone can use it, from the youngest to the elderly because its use is very easy:there is only a button that allows you to turn on the charging which runs on solar energy."The students worked in groups for a year and curated the theme of sustainability in every step of the production of the cover, including distribution.In fact, to create the product packaging, they chose to use stainless steel packaging ecological cardboard.“Our entire project was born with the aim of meeting the objectives ofUN Agenda 2030 for sustainable development,” he adds Sofia Angelantoni, student and CEO of RecoveR.The 2030 Agenda is an action program developed by United Nations and signed by 193 countries which aims to define 169 targets of sustainability by 2030.Among the objectives that the UN aims to achieve are the fight against climate change and the reduction of gender inequalities.“To reach the Agenda targets we have encouraged in our project female leadership – adds Angelantoni – and we built a recyclable nylon cover to have one reduction of emissions”.

Solar energy devices on the market

It is not the first time in history that a similar cover has been created.In 2013 the US company Ascent Solar created the first cover model for iPhone 6 with integrated solar panel.The product, however, did not have the desired success in the American market given the high cost (70 euros) which didn't make it an accessory for everyone. Another example, certainly more widespread but not renewable, is the solar power bank which allows you to charge your mobile phone even when you are out without an electrical outlet.Although useful, however, power banks are an uncomfortable and heavy accessory.Years ago, someone thought of creating a solar panel integrated into the cell phone.The first case was the Samsung Blue earth which was put on the market as early as 2009.Pioneering for its time and often at risk of battery overheating, the mobile phone was not successful but brought the issue of charging mobile phones with solar energy to world attention.Then in 2014, came the Fairphone, the mobile phone that respects workers' rights and environmental regulations.

The cover project invented by the students of the Foligno institute is already a reality.The product is available in single-brand stores, is available online and is located at i authorized resellers.An innovative idea that the school will remember for a long time.