# Solar Paint ???



## [email protected] (Feb 24, 2008)

:blink:

Solar Paint Promises To Turn Any Surface Into A Solar Cell



> Researchers have successfully managed to create a “solar paint” made out of quantum dots, which exhibits similar properties to multifilm solar cell architectures. The later are sophisticated, expensive and require a lot of time to deploy; the paint can be easily applied to basically any surface, like a house’s roof, and prepare it to easily generate photocurrent.





> “The goal is to prepare a solar paint that has long shelf life,” Kamat said. “In our laboratories we have tested the performance for a few days to a week, and we find it stable as long as it is stored in the dark. Additional tests are underway to investigate long-term stability of paints with different compositions.”


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## NCPaint1 (Aug 6, 2009)

Cool. Imagine turning your entire home into a photo cell........awesome.


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

They started talking about these printable solar cells back in 2005, I am still waiting for them to actually start *producing* them.

The cool thing about this technology is it allows the cells to be printed onto any medium.

This drastically reduces the cost of solar technology, because a huge part of the cost is all of the ridgid infrastructure to house the delicate silicon wafers.

With this technology, you can simply print the cells onto say a 6 mil roll of vinyl, then roll it out on your roof.

Last I read they estimated this would make solar technology FIVE TIMES cheaper than the rigid silicon version.

Also, by adding the cells to paint, I read that even in CLOUDY CONDITIONS, the amount of ambient light gathered by surface is more than enough to power an entire house.

So even in northern climates with a lot of cloud cover, adding these cells to the paint would provide a viable solar option for powering houses.

All I can say is:

HURRY UP ALREADY!

Sheesh. The technology is probably getting blocked at every turn by the energy conglomerates.


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## Ultimate (Mar 20, 2011)

Just wow.


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## Bender (Aug 10, 2008)

> “In our laboratories we have tested the performance for a few days to a week, and we find it stable as long as it is stored in the dark


:blink::blink::blink:


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## Bender (Aug 10, 2008)

I'm actually thinking of throwing one of these together as an experiment.
soda can solar heater


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## Last Craftsman (Dec 5, 2008)

Bender said:


> I'm actually thinking of throwing one of these together as an experiment.
> soda can solar heater


I LOVE THOSE THINGS.

It is such a simple, passive way to generate free heat, for your home.

A lot of guys are getting 200 degrees in that box with air constantly moving though it.

That is 200 degrees of free heat for the cost of a sheet of plywood, and some cans.

You can even use heavy mil clear visquene instead of acrylic or glass.

It only lasts a couple years, and it is more difficult to clear snow off it etc, but then, it only costs 5 bucks to re-sheet it.


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