4Color-Changing Contact Lenses for Monitoring Glucose Levels
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Can you imagine the scope of such technology in saving millions of lives and also making life for diabetics more convenient? The color changing lenses technology was created by Professor Jin Zhang Chemical and Biochemical Engineering professor from the University of Western Ontario. The technology used engineered nanoparticles embedded in hydrogel lenses that were engineered to react with glucose molecules found in tears. Each time sugar levels rose or fell a chemical reaction would make the lenses change color.
The technology called multifunctional nanocomposites also has other applications like food technology where nanocomposite wrapping film can keep oxygen, carbon dioxide and moisture from food or be used to measure toxicity levels and detect contamination. Research is still continuing and expects the application to go commercial in 2020.
Image Source: www.nanalyze.com
5Wireless Energy Transmission
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Research in Japan has successfully delivered 1.8 KW of power to a facility 55 meters away using microwaves and no wires. The wireless technology research has become a prime subject of focus for Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency or JAXA where solar power satellites is integrated with capabilities to harness solar power and beam it back for use on earth using microwaves.
The process converts solar energy to DC and then to microwave. It then reconverts to DC after which it is delivered to its target as AC current. The process has been found to be 80% efficient with negligible loss of power in the process.
JAXA is now planning to deploy a 10,000 metric ton geosynchronous solar collector which will be located 36,000 km from earth. AN operational plant with the capacity of 1 gigawatt hopes to go commercial by 2013.
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6Transparent Solar Panels
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Transparent solar panels are a brainchild of a research team at Michigan State University that used organic salts with a high capacity to absorb nonvisible wavelengths. The TLSC enables the passage of light to pass through and use UV and infrared light to generate power instead. Lead researcher Richard Lunt said they could be implemented from anywhere, a rooftop or even used to power electric cars. The technology uses materials that pick up UV light and near-infrared wavelengths which are then guided to a surface edge where it would be converted to electricity by the thin strips of Photovoltaic cells.
The system uses materials to pick up ultraviolet and near-infrared wavelengths, which are guided to the edge of the surface they are on for it to be converted into electricity by thin strips of photovoltaic solar cells.
According to Professor Lunt’ “We will see commercial products become available over the next few years,” Richard Lunt, an associate professor of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science at MSU, tells Newsweek. “We are just beginning to hit performance metrics that make sense to scale up.”
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