It looks like roads that use solar power to melt snow are one step closer to becoming a reality–at least for a little stretch of Idaho. Solar Roadways received a $750,000 grant from the Federal Highway Administration to build a parking lot paved with solar panels.
Last year, a company called New Energy Technology announced that they had succeeded making a photovoltaic substance that, applied on clear glass, could generate electricity. Now, they are announcing the same innovation being available for flexible plastic materials.
The researchers at New Energy Technology have successfully applied the coating on PET plastics (the material used for plastic bottles) at room temperature and low pressure. This, they say, will reduce manufacturing costs if the materials would be mass-produced.
Science fiction comes to life with the latest nanodevice that sits underneath the skin and converts near-infrared (NIR) light energy into electrical power. This is a promising wireless electrical power source for biological nanorobots for use within the human body, say scientists in Taiwan.
The nanodevice is an organic photovoltaic device (OPV) designed by Fang-Chung Chen and his team from National Chiao Tung University, in Hsinchu. OPVs are more commonly known for their applications in solar cell technology converting sunlight into electricity.
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