DSSC Technology Has Reached New Depths- Within the Body

    A new type of technology that is being developed today revolves around creating various biological nanodevices that can be used for attaining a diagnosis and for varying therapeutic interventions. One huge problem that occurs when designing these types of biotechnologies is that they need to be wireless to ensure unrestricted access to parts of the body. In order to accomplish this, there needs to be a continual source of electrical energy that can be utilized in unusual environments such as the human body.
    Previous efforts to accomplish this includes the development of a direct current nano generator that uses ultrasonic waves. This breakthrough was made by Dr. Zhong Lin Wang, who is a COE distinguished professor and director of the Center for Nanostructure Characterization at Georgia Tech. Dr. Wang's research resulted in the creating of a nanogenerator that was able to take hydraulic energy from within the human body, such as a heart beat or blood flow, and convert it into electrical energy. Although this was an amazing find, improvements needed to be made in order to make it more practical for real life applications.
    Recent developments from researchers from the State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials at Donghua University located in in Shanghai, China and the Max Planck Institute for Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam, Germany include building a 980 nm laser driven Dye Sensitized Solar Cell that can function even when it is covered by a thick layer of biological tissue. This is possible because these tissues have a high transparency to this specific frequency of light. This  photovoltaic cell is created by utilizing rare nanophosphors that absorb light and then send out a glow that, in turn, excites solar cells to make electricity. It is capable of providing a maximum output of  0.28 to 0.02 mW of energy, even after being covered with 1 to 6 layers of pig intestine that averaged about 1 mm thick each. This amount of energy is enough to power a large variety of biotechnology.
    This development is in its primary stages of research and scientists are still looking for ways to improve. Some of these desired improvements include making all of the components more biologically compatible, improving conversion efficiency, and making the cell even smaller in order to increase it application.


(Information was Provided by Nanowerk-Nanoscale Power Plants and Nanowerk- Photovoltaic Cells to Power Biological Nanorobots Inside the Body)

Helpful Housing- Fixing Global Warming, One House at a Time

     Everyone has heard of the huge and clunky solar cell that can rest on top of houses to create energy but a new and more stylish technology is making its way out into the housing market. SRS Energy has created a product called the Solé Power Tile in which each clay shingle can act like a powerhouse for energy. Each single has the ability to continually create energy that can be stored for the building to use at its convenience.
     Due to SRS Energy's creativity and innovation, it was awarded the “Best of What's New” award in the Home Technology category in 2009 from Popular Science Magazine for its Solé Power Tile because they not only created a roofing product that can harvest energy, but also incorporated a stylish design that can be blended into any Mission-Style roofing system without lowering the building's aesthetic value.
     Clay solar tile technology is categorized under Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) which are usually based off of either Thick Film cells (silicon based wafers) or Thin Film cells ( such as DSSC's). BIPV systems have been integrated into different aspects of the architecture of the buildings themselves in order to create a more environmentally friendly property. Photovoltaic technology has been incorporated into different parts of buildings such as walls, awnings, windows, roofs and more.
     Each BIPV system comes equipped with a photovoltaic module, a charge controller to regulate power, an energy storage system, power conversion equipment, backup power supplies and all of its respecting mounting and wiring hardware.
     It is hoped that in the long run, different forms of BIPV such as the Solé Power Tiles will be used increasingly amongst all house holds and will significantly decrease, if not eliminate the use of other more harmful methods of obtaining energy.
     Now just because a house can create its own energy, it does not mean that we should be stuck inside it. Coming soon is a look at how we can live a better life outdoors.


(Information provided by CleanTechnica)

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