Solar Paint
What we need is solar paint. Something you can paint on your car, let it bake in the sun all day in a parking lot, and have at least enough power generated to toast a bagel or something. It would certainly be prettier than this.
It would have to be conductive, so you’d just plug in to a corner of it and out would come the juice. You could paint your house, car, pets, whatever in solar paint and there’s be lots of clean, portable energy floating around.
OK, so solar power is expensive and very low-yield today. But someday, solar paint will be huge! You heard it here first, folks.
January 24th, 2004 at 12:12 pm
Dude, that’s my car! You don’t think it’s pretty as Rhonda, your Honda? Dang.
July 27th, 2004 at 10:30 am
I have googled for solar paint and your page came up, I have dreamed a lot about this, do you have any more information on this????
Jacob
January 11th, 2005 at 11:33 am
Something like this?
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/1105319242587_49
April 5th, 2005 at 2:34 pm
Leave it to the nerds to think so small about the possibilities of this application. If the sun generates 10000 times the amount of energy that the world needs, and we are able to capture 1%, I’m sure we can develop something bigger than a sweater that keeps you cell phone charged. (Maybe solar electric sock warmers)
Okay, enough with that. Seriously, I have been working on and off with this project for over 10 years. Granted I did not think of using polymers or nanotechnology, but the concept seemed so interesting so I thought I’d apply what little brain power I have.
Here are some of the ideas I had and the problems I ran into:
Idea: Paint consisting of 3 solar collecting properties, Silicon, Boron, Phosphorous or Arsenic. Apply to a conductive etched surface and have the paint separate, dope and dry by the atomic weight of each of the ingredients. Apply an antireflective coating.
Problem: 1. Cost! Even a 12′X12′ experiment would cost $5K.
2. Finding Liquefied Pure Silicon, Boron and Phosphorous.
If anyone has an idea on how to put these all in a paint can please share.
April 20th, 2005 at 11:47 am
How about http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/hotline/09_00_paint.html
Granted, that website is a little dated….
April 22nd, 2005 at 9:44 am
Is it necessary to liquify your substrate? The article you refer to refers to vacuum deposition, if you are looking for a good way to paint a purified coating this is the way to do it. In fact, this is the way that transistors were originally doped. The process is not terribly difficult to accomplish with the right equipment. Granted your initial investment in chambers pumps and related equipment will be significant, and I am not sure the sublimation temperatures/ pressures required for the elements you have stated. However, I used to work in a plant that coated many metalics onto glass and most of them would generate coating using the heat of a tungsten filiment. The more difficult ones require e-beam which is a bit more serious.
This leads to a suggestion for your first question. None of our substrate materials were all that pure, however, you do gain the purifying benifit of “distillation” throught the use of evaproative coating. If this is feesible for your application it is worth considering downgrading your starting materials as well. In, fact some materials coat better when mixed with other materials, just as water will evaporate more rapidly when mixed with acetone.
June 14th, 2005 at 12:14 am
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0114_050114_solarplastic.html
September 12th, 2005 at 11:37 am
Well… this is not far off. Certain automotive paints bond on a molecular level. Some of these actually bond in a string. So if you were to look at the molecular structure of the paint, it would look like 1 very long string swirled back and forth etc. It is my understanding that a solar paint is already in development.
I think the main issue is still to tap into the generated electricity.
June 5th, 2006 at 4:06 am
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2005/01/0114_050114_solarplastic.html
May 8th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I was just thinking how can we get away from our dependence on fuel and what is so plentiful to us? It hit me that our Sun is a form of energy and it is a very plentiful source, so how can we manage it to our favor in a more efficient way… I had a wild idea that solar paint would fill that need, but I have to admit I haven’t done any research on it yet. Like I said, this was a thought that just hit me. In reviewing your site I’m curious to how far your research has taken you since the site was posted back three years ago. Thanks for your posting.
June 27th, 2007 at 3:39 am
is there a Silicon-Boron paint? and Silicon-Phosphorous paint?
August 8th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Yes, there is such a thing as silcon-phosphorous rich paint!! We produce this type of paint for the marine and industrial industy. We use the silcone product for our marine hull paints as anti-fouling paints. This product is hard but very smooth so the marine organisms can not attach themselves permanently to the hull coating.
The phosphorous is added into 3 of our other coatings and used for the application inside large water tanks, and in the waste treatment tanks for inspection. If you would like to know more send me an email.
November 14th, 2007 at 11:23 am
I heard about this on a television show not long ago. I know the technology isn’t ready for the public yet, but I am building a house and want to have all the information. I would like to be able to use this paint for the roof of the house, but cannot find any information on the angle needed for the roof. I know solar panels need to be placed at the correct angle and moved for seasons to get the best result. What would you do with a paint?