via eeNews Europe
Batteries power most of our devices, and even some cars. But researchers now report in ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces a step toward running electronic devices in homes and offices on the light coming from lamps scattered around the room. The team developed special light harvesters, like those used for solar power, optimized to produce energy from ambient indoor lighting.
Electronic gadgets increasingly are becoming indispensable. Smart thermostats learn when to turn up the heat, sensors set off alarms when windows are opened, and cell phones keep people connected. In the coming “internet of things,” more and more of these items will be connected wirelessly to the internet, communicating to each other and performing the functions of everyday life. Most of these gadgets run on batteries, but they need to be replaced and can be bulky. Solar power is a possible alternative, but the sun doesn’t always shine when devices need to work. Artificial room lighting, however, is all around — in homes, schools, offices, stores — and can be controlled on demand. To put room lighting to work, Ryota Arai, Takuma Yasuda and colleagues turned to organic photovoltaics (OPVs), which are light, flexible and transparent.
To determine the best configuration for OPVs, the researchers tested small-molecule organic semiconductors that appeared to have promising characteristics for harvesting ambient light. OPVs based on the small molecule called BDT-2T-ID outperformed other similar devices, even one based on silicon solar technology. A set of six of these devices connected in series could produce about 4 volts under dim illumination to power microsensors. Much needs to be done to scale up the technology, but the team says it could someday be a viable way to power wireless devices throughout a room.
Learn more: Powering devices — with a desk lamp?
The Latest on: Light harvesters
via Google News
The Latest on: Light harvesters
- Buckyballs on DNA for harvesting lighton February 23, 2021 at 11:42 pm
The double helix of DNA acts as a scaffold to arrange chromophores (i.e. fluorescent dyes) - which function as electron donors - and "buckyballs" - electron acceptors - in three dimensions to avoid ...
- Agricultural Automatic Robots Market Growth with Industry Study, Detailed Analysis and Forecast to 2027| Deere & Company, Trimble, AGCO Corporationon February 23, 2021 at 10:40 pm
LOS ANGELES United States The research study presented here is a brilliant compilation of different types of analysis of critical aspects of the global Agricultural Automatic Robots market It sheds ...
- Google adding four Stadia Pro games for March 2021, including PixelJunk Raiderson February 23, 2021 at 3:21 pm
Google is adding four games to Stadia Pro in a continuation from last month. Led by PixelJunk Raiders, AVICII Invector ...
- Congress to consider adding flexibility for cover crop harvestingon February 23, 2021 at 11:22 am
Wis., on Feb. 23 introduced the Feed Emergency Enhancement During Disasters with Cover Crops (FEEDD) Act to provide farmers and ranchers additional flexibility to alleviate feed shortages in years ...
- Organic photovoltaics for simultaneous energy harvesting and high-speed MIMO optical wireless communications | Light: Science & Applicationson February 23, 2021 at 5:37 am
We show that organic photovoltaics (OPVs) are suitable for high-speed optical wireless data receivers that can also harvest power. In addition, these OPVs are of particular interest for indoor ...
- Survey data sheds light on Indigenous languages, traditional activities across Canada’s Northon February 22, 2021 at 11:24 am
Aboriginal Peoples Survey regularly queries thousands of Indigenous people across Canada Less than one in 10 Indigenous Yukoners can speak or understand an Indigenous language, and young people across ...
- Chinese firm officials summoned over sand harvesting in Lake Victoriaon February 21, 2021 at 11:35 am
The National Environmental Management Authority has summoned the officials of a Chinese firm over sand harvesting in Lake Victoria. Director General Mamo Baro Mamo in a letter, directed Mango Tree ...
- Harvesting Useful Products from Microbial Growthon February 19, 2021 at 7:34 am
While such efforts generally came to naught, researchers today are having some success in extracting a variety of useful products like aviation fuels, lubricants, solvents, food additives, and ...
- Direct observation of charge separation in an organic light harvesting system by femtosecond time-resolved XPSon February 19, 2021 at 2:19 am
Understanding ultrafast dynamics of photon-to-charge conversion is paramount for optimising light-harvesting systems. Here, the authors use femtosecond time-resolved X-ray photoemission spectroscopy ...
- Waste into wealth: Harvesting useful products from microbial growthon February 18, 2021 at 7:30 am
Ancient alchemists dreamed of transforming base materials like lead into gold and other valuable commodities. While such efforts generally came to naught, researchers today are having some success in ...
via Bing News
