Leave it to the Fighting Irish to take a stab at solving the world’s energy woes. Notre Dame researchers have successfully developed solar cells that can be easily painted on to any conductive surface. Imagine, for a moment, applying this solution to your home rather than attaching solar panels to the roof. The paint mixture incorporates quantum dots of titanium dioxide, which is then coated with either cadmium sulfide or cadmium selenide, and is then suspended in mixture of water and alcohol to create a spreadable compound that’s capable of generating electricity. While its efficiency isn’t currently much to crow home about — which hovers around one-percent — scientists are now actively pursuing ways to improve this aspect while making a more stable compound. Most importantly, the paint can be made cheaply and in large quantities, which suggests that even if efficiency remains in the doldrums, it may be a very worthwhile pursuit. Touchdown Jesus is already watching the video after the break.

Continue reading Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video)

Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 14:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Notre Dame heralds paint-on solar cells, wants to smear your home with its goop (video)

Let’s face it, 3D movies are amazing but there are times when you’ll walk away with a killer headache. A group of researchers at IMEC believes that holographic video might be the best way around this problem and has been working on a means of constructing holographic displays by shining lasers on microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) platforms capable of moving up and down like small, reflective pistons. Here’s the cool part: each pixel would have a spring-like mechanism attached to it that could be moved by applying voltage to it. In the first stage of the technology, a laser is bounced off a MEMS-less chip containing an image, the diffracted light interfering to create a 3D picture. From here, the team can adjust the image by replacing pixels with small, mirrored platforms that can alternate their direction to create a moving projection. It gets technical after this, but you can take a gander at the video after the break for a full demo and explanation.

Continue reading IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches

IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 25 Dec 2011 18:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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IMEC working with holograms, mirrored pixels to prevent 3D movie headaches