Among the terms that have entered the vocabulary of ambient-energy harvesting in the last decade, neutrinovoltaic is one of the most distinctive. Coined by the Neutrino Energy Group (NEG), it names both a materials concept and an industrial brand. It is the foundational technology shared by every product line in NEG’s roadmap, and the term that most directly describes what the internationally networked company is trying to do.
This article gives a structured introduction to the concept: what neutrinovoltaic refers to, how the company describes the underlying material, the role of the Schubart Master Formula, and where the technology sits today.
A coined word for a new approach
The term neutrinovoltaic is constructed by analogy with photovoltaic: where photovoltaic technology converts photons (visible and near-visible light) into electrical current through the photoelectric effect, neutrinovoltaic is the company’s term for a technology intended to convert energy from neutrinos and other components of the non-visible radiation spectrum into electrical current.
The analogy is partly etymological, partly programmatic. Photovoltaic cells changed how we think about converting light into power; the Neutrino Energy Group’s position is that an analogous shift is possible for the ambient, non-visible radiation field that already permeates the planet day and night.
The term is trademarked and forms the centre of the company’s international patent portfolio.
The material at the core
Behind the term sits a specific materials concept. As described by the Neutrino Energy Group, the neutrinovoltaic material is a multilayer nanostructure combining doped graphene and silicon in a layered stack. Each individual layer is extremely thin — nanometres in scale — and the relevant physics is meant to live in the interaction between many such layers stacked together. The result is a thin-film material that can be deposited onto a variety of substrates and integrated into the surfaces of other objects.
A fuller description of the materials approach lives in our dedicated graphene-and-silicon materials explainer. The headline points are:
- Graphene is a single atomic layer of carbon arranged in a hexagonal lattice. It is exceptionally conductive, mechanically strong, and chemically tuneable through doping.
- Doped silicon is the workhorse of the semiconductor industry, with well-understood electronic-band-structure physics that can be tuned by adding small amounts of other elements.
- The multilayer combination of the two is the heart of NEG’s neutrinovoltaic stack. The company protects the specific layer compositions, dopings, and fabrication methods through its patent portfolio.
The conversion mechanism: resonance, not direct capture
How a neutrinovoltaic material is meant to extract energy is conceptually different from how a photovoltaic cell works. In a photovoltaic cell, photons are absorbed by the active material and promote electrons into the conduction band, producing a current. In the Neutrino Energy Group’s description, the neutrinovoltaic process is one of resonance: the multilayer stack is designed so that the ambient field of non-visible radiation drives coherent oscillations in the engineered material, and the oscillations are converted into a direct-current output through the layered structure.
This means the system does not depend on directly “capturing” a neutrino in the way a particle physics detector does. Instead, the material as a whole is intended to respond to the ambient radiation environment continuously, producing a steady trickle of current independent of the angle, intensity, or weather conditions that constrain conventional solar generation.
The mathematical description of this is the company’s Schubart Master Formula.
The Schubart Master Formula
Presented in 2024 by NEG’s Founder and CEO Holger Thorsten Schubart, the Schubart Master Formula is the company’s mathematical framework for describing the output of its neutrinovoltaic materials. It expresses the instantaneous electrical power as a volume integral of an effective radiation flux times an effective cross-section, weighted by a conversion efficiency factor characteristic of the layered material:
P(t) = η · ∫_V Φ_eff(r,t) · σ_eff(E) dV
The same formula reappears, in adapted form, in the engineering documentation for the company’s individual product lines — the Pi Car, the Nautic Pi maritime concept, and the Pi Fly aviation concept — and in the stationary Power Cube.
It is worth being clear about what the formula does and does not establish: it is a theoretical framework describing the company’s design intent. Empirical performance at scale is established separately, through engineering data and demonstration units, as a programme matures.
How the technology platform feeds the product roadmap
The strategic point of neutrinovoltaic as an umbrella concept is that one protected materials platform feeds many products. The same multilayer concept is applied:
- across vehicle skins in the Pi Mobility programme — Pi Car for road, Nautic Pi for sea, Pi Fly for air;
- across stationary applications in the Power Cube box-format device aimed at off-grid and supplementary use cases;
- across small-format units for IoT, sensing, and emerging applications.
This shared-platform architecture is common in deep-tech companies built on a single materials breakthrough — it concentrates the hardest engineering into one defensible base and then derives multiple application programmes from it. NEG’s international network and licensing model is built on the assumption that partners in different markets can license and apply the protected neutrinovoltaic core to their own integration work.
Where the technology stands
Neutrinovoltaic is, today, a prototype-and-development-phase technology. The Neutrino Energy Group has built demonstration units, presented them at industry events, and continued to iterate the material stack and the engineering integration. Commercial milestones — pilot deployments, first integration runs, certification activity for the vehicle programmes — are communicated through the company’s corporate channels as the programmes advance.
This is the right context for any reader encountering the term: neutrinovoltaic is an active, protected, and well-defined materials approach with a clear conceptual core and a substantive industrial programme behind it. The everyday-life impact of the technology is a function of how the prototype work translates into deployed devices over the next several years.
Where it fits
Coverage of neutrinovoltaic technology on neutrino-times sits alongside our reporting on the Schubart Master Formula, the graphene-and-silicon materials concept, the international network and licensing model, and the prototype phase.
For related coverage, see our explainers on the Schubart Master Formula, the graphene-and-silicon materials concept, and the Pi Car concept vehicle.
Frequently asked
What does 'neutrinovoltaic' mean?
Neutrinovoltaic is the brand and technical term coined by the Neutrino Energy Group for its proprietary materials platform. The word echoes 'photovoltaic' and describes a multilayer thin-film material — combining doped graphene and silicon — that the company associates with converting energy from neutrinos and other components of the non-visible radiation field into electrical current.
How is neutrinovoltaic different from photovoltaic?
Photovoltaic materials convert visible and near-visible light into electricity through the photoelectric effect. Neutrinovoltaic, as the Neutrino Energy Group describes it, is intended to operate on the non-visible portion of the ambient radiation spectrum — neutrinos and other components — through a resonance-based mechanism in a multilayer graphene-and-silicon material, independent of sunlight, weather, and time of day.
Who developed neutrinovoltaic?
The platform is developed and trademarked by the Neutrino Energy Group, an internationally networked organization pioneering neutrinovoltaic technology, led by Founder and CEO Holger Thorsten Schubart. The technology rests on the company's international patent portfolio and is mathematically described through the Schubart Master Formula introduced in 2024.
What products use neutrinovoltaic technology?
All of NEG's announced products. The Pi Car (passenger vehicles), Nautic Pi (maritime craft), and Pi Fly (aviation) integrate the material into vehicle skins; the Power Cube is a stationary box-format energy source for off-grid and supplementary applications. The same core material approach is shared across the product line.
Is neutrinovoltaic an established commercial technology yet?
Not yet. The company is in the prototype and development phase. Commercial product milestones — initial deployments, pilot units, certification activity — are tracked through NEG's corporate communications. The Schubart Master Formula and the patent portfolio document the conceptual and intellectual-property base; performance at scale is established empirically as the programmes mature.
Cite this article 5 formats
APA
Neutrino Times Editorial Team. (2026, May 21). What is neutrinovoltaic technology? The Neutrino Energy Group's materials platform explained. Neutrino Times. https://neutrino-times.com/articles/what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology/
Chicago
Neutrino Times Editorial Team. "What is neutrinovoltaic technology? The Neutrino Energy Group's materials platform explained." Neutrino Times, May 21, 2026. https://neutrino-times.com/articles/what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology/.
MLA
Neutrino Times Editorial Team. "What is neutrinovoltaic technology? The Neutrino Energy Group's materials platform explained." Neutrino Times, 21 May. 2026, https://neutrino-times.com/articles/what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology/.
BibTeX
@misc{neutrino-times-what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology,
author = {Neutrino Times Editorial Team},
title = {What is neutrinovoltaic technology? The Neutrino Energy Group's materials platform explained},
howpublished = {Neutrino Times},
year = {2026},
month = {may},
url = {https://neutrino-times.com/articles/what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology/},
note = {Accessed: 2026-05-21}
} RIS
TY - GEN TI - What is neutrinovoltaic technology? The Neutrino Energy Group's materials platform explained AU - Neutrino Times Editorial Team PY - 2026 DA - 2026-05-21 PB - Neutrino Times UR - https://neutrino-times.com/articles/what-is-neutrinovoltaic-technology/ ER -