A Window That Washes Itself? New Nano-Material May Revolutionize Solar Panels and Batteries, Too

[Indenturedebtor]

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091203132159.htm

A Window That Washes Itself? New Nano-Material May Revolutionize Solar Panels and Batteries, Too

ScienceDaily (Dec. 4, 2009) — A coating on windows or solar panels that repels grime and dirt? Expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric car? New Tel Aviv University research, just published in Nature Nanotechnology, details a breakthrough in assembling peptides at the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic visions come true in just a few years.

Operating in the range of 100 nanometers (roughly one-billionth of a meter) and even smaller, graduate student Lihi Adler-Abramovich and a team working under Prof. Ehud Gazit in TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology have found a novel way to control the atoms and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small forests of grass. These "peptide forests" repel dust and water -- a perfect self-cleaning coating for windows or solar panels which, when dirty, become far less efficient.
"This is beautiful and protean research," says Adler-Abramovich, a Ph.D. candidate. "It began as an attempt to find a new cure for Alzheimer's disease. To our surprise, it also had implications for electric cars, solar energy and construction."

As cheap as the sweetener in your soda
A world leader in nanotechnology research, Prof. Gazit has been developing arrays of self-assembling peptides made from proteins for the past six years. His lab, in collaboration with a group led by Prof. Gil Rosenman of TAU's Faculty of Engineering, has been working on new applications for this basic science for the last two years.
Using a variety of peptides, which are as simple and inexpensive to produce as the artificial sweetener aspartame, the researchers create their "self-assembled nano-tubules" in a vacuum under high temperatures. These nano-tubules can withstand extreme heat and are resistant to water.

More at link

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

1. NEXT...Windows virus free

Never happen


But cool reading..

[Jamastiene]

2. Carpet. Carpet. Carpet.

Bathtubs. Kitchen floors. Clothes.

These are not subliminal messages to create solutions to those mundane chores. They are merely suggestions. Nothing to see here, moving right along. :P

[gristy]

3. Washes itself. Whatever.

Does one go to school to learn how to write dumb-ass and misleading headlines?

[eppur_se_muova]

4. Other, more weatherproof approaches already on the market:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-cleaning_glass

[wuvuj]

5. As cheap as the sweetener in your soda?

And possibly just as dangerous to your health?

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=do-nanoparticles-in-food-pose-health-risk

Like GMO foods....no consumer protection?