Imagine a "smart home" with internal walls that are responsible for changes in light, heat and cold and everything that concerns the quality of the environment in the rooms. Sensitive digital cameras will work even in the dark and the residents of the house wear clothes made of fabric that converts sunlight into energy and thus activate various devices.
Imagine a "smart home" with internal walls that are responsible for changes in light, heat and cold and everything that concerns the quality of the environment in the rooms. Sensitive digital cameras will work even in the dark and the residents of the house wear clothes made of fabric that converts sunlight into energy and thus activate various devices.
It's no longer imagination: scientists at the University of Toronto are getting closer to realizing these ideas. They developed a material with a high sensitivity to infrared radiation that will be required for the above-mentioned accessory. This is another step forward in the science of nanotechnology where dark plastic will "see in the dark", for example.
In a report on the research, which appeared on the online news site of the journal "Nature Materials", Prof. Ted Sargent from the research center of the Nortel Networks company and the Canadian university said that the developed material "harvests" - this is the expression chosen by the scientists - the invisible rays in the sunlight
Semiconductor crystal material particles were developed in his laboratory, with dimensions of 2, 3 and 4 nanometers (1 nanometer = 1 billionth of a meter). They were so small that they remained scattered in any soluble matter, like particles of paint. But the tiny crystals, the nanocrystals, were "trained" to capture the light in short wavelengths. The result: a spray of infrared detector.
These materials, until now, only worked in the visible light spectrum, while the Canadian innovation already works in the infrared - a range required in many imaging applications, for example in medical equipment and fiber optic communication. The new materials make it possible to design and manufacture photovoltaic cells, solar cells, flexible like paper. Using them, it will be possible to harness about half of the sunlight spectrum that is currently unused.
A combination of infrared light and visible light in photovoltaic cells will turn sunlight into electrical energy, increasing the power by about 30 percent, five times the utilization capacity of existing cells built, for example, from high-quality plastic.
