Did you know that scientist are working on solar paint? In fact prototype solar paints have already been developed (insert sceptical sigh). From my brief but enthralling research several companies / universities, using several types of nanotechnology, are developing these paints.
Check this out, here are some quotes from the linked Inhabitant.com article on the Swansea paint project..
'The Swansea Solar Paint project is led by Dave Worsley, who, together with his team, were researching ways to make make steel last longer. By chance they started to focus on the degradation of paints in steel surfaces, when they realized that their research could lead them to develop a new way of getting energy from the sun.
The idea is to coat every piece of steel cladding with a solar cell paint. As steel is passed through the rollers multiple coatings of the solar cell system are applied to it. Based on the preliminary research, the materials that are being applied are suited to capturing low level solar radiation, which means that they should work just as well in areas where the sun doesn’t directly shine on them.
Think about the possibilities of having every roof clad with a durable, electricity-generating steel finish!
It is expected that they would be able to press around 30 to 40m2 a minute. This may not sound like much, but put it into perspective: according to Dr. Worsley, if all the steel cladding produced by just one manufacturer was produced to be energy generating, at a very conservative energy exchange rate of 5%, it would be the equivalent of 50 wind farms, or roughly 4,500 gigawatts of electricity, per year. If you ask us, this is a project that might be worth looking into.'
Amazing. Exciting.
Here is an article on cleantechnica.com dated September 23rd 2009 talking about a solar silicon ink with a verified 18% conversion rate? Current applications of this silicon based project would nicely improve photovoltaic 'PV' systems. Nanosolar is already shipping panels with this product, so data on their performance should be forthcoming. However, it isn't as if you could spray this on to any surface, unlike the following project...
This National Geographic News article talks about practical 'spray on solar' applications like a sweater coated in sprayed on solar power cells powering small hand held devices like cell phones etc.
This project along with the Swansea Paint project are using very impressive 'carbon nanotube' technology, which is also a favorite materials topic for 'space elevator' projects. Keep your eyes peeled for tons of new uses for 'carbon nanotube' tech.
Lastly, just a brief mention of an MIT project, quoting an article on Coatings World.
'Yet another project involving dye is being developed at Massachusetts Institute of Technology by Marc Baldo, an associate professor of engineering and computer science. His technology involves using organic dye as a coating on the glass focal point of solar concentrators, in place of mirrors, the current technology. The dyes absorb light energy at different wavelengths, then transmit it to solar cells at the edge of the collector.'
Summarizing...
Paint On / Spray On / Ink On solar are very exciting concepts for the future of the industry. Some positivists project that we may see some of these products available to consumers within 2 years!
Same year I get my Nike Rocket Boots?
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