One organic semiconductor has achieved what was previously considered impossible: the conversion of nearly all of the light it receives into electricity. The discovery, published in the journal Nature Materials and the result of a partnership between the University of Pisa, the University of Cambridge (UK), and the University of Mons (Belgium), has the potential to alter the future of solar cells and light-powered devices. The subject of this investigation is P3TTM, a molecule that is a member of the family of organic radicals. Radicals are chemical species that are highly reactive due to the presence of at least one unpaired electron. Until recently, they were predominantly recognized for their capacity to emit light (as evidenced by their use in contemporary OLED displays), but they were not known for their ability to generate electricity efficiently. The breakthrough is that, by illuminating ultra-thin P3TTM films with blue-violet light, the molecules not only become excited but also exchange electrons among themselves, creating pairs of charged particles. When these are separated by a simple electric field, the conversion into electric current is nearly ideal, with a "harvest efficiency" that approaches 100%. In other words, the majority of the energy provided by the light is converted into usable electricity. The advantages are considerable. In conventional organic solar cells - which are electronic devices that convert sunlight into electricity through the photovoltaic effect - a substantial portion of the light is wasted because charges remain trapped. By contrast, the P3TTM converts light into electric current in a straightforward and direct manner, eliminating the necessity for the intricate architectures that have been employed thus far. This opens the door to cheaper, lighter, and easier-to-produce solar cells, as well as new optical and magnetic sensors and revolutionary electronic devices that use light as a direct energy source.