Eco Factor: Solar cells just 1 mm long can power small to extremely small machines.
Instead of simply spraying paint on your walls and roofs, now you can beautify them with an eco-sense. Researchers at the University of South Florida have developed solar cells so small that they can simply be sprayed on walls, roofs and any place which is exposed to the sun.
Each of these cells is just a millimeter long and is made from organic polymer that can be dissolved and printed on to a flexible material. The researchers fabricated an array of 20 such cells to produce nearly 8V of electricity, and used it to power tiny nanotube sensors used for sniffing dangerous chemicals and sensors.
The Dark Side:
Since the efficiency of solar cells depends on the amount of sunlight they received, you might just have to clean your solar painted walls and roofs a little more often.
Via: Tech Radar
Comments
The (GRD) great republican depression will necessitate passive solar heating of small practical super insulated survival shelter style homes as opposed the the grandiose McMansions of past generations. To survive, in a world faced by ”Mao’s Revenge” an army of country girl factory workers already trained to make Buick Lesabres by GM!!! and working for 55 cents an hour!!! and corrupt governments that ’Pay Off’ banks for mismanagement, Americans will have to get closer to the ground for survival, grow gardens for security and work for near nothing to compete! They will need all the help they can get to support any life at all, never mind the former and envied ’American lifestyle’. Painting solar power collectors to drive low power circuits will certainly help, and perhaps enable robotic garden servants in greenhouses to operate automatically, or other ingenuities borne of the spirit to survive of the American people. We will need all the tools we can get to beat this GRD and its aftermath will be a changed world indeed! Spray painted power sources one more tool to use against the assault on the middle class!
Well Uncle B, that is certainly a surreal and bleak picture you paint there. Let’s hope Obama comes good on his promises on renewable energy
Is this real or science fiction that will be real in 10 years? It is fascinating to see how this may apply to other nano tech inventions.