Solar Paint That Generate Electricity

Today the technology is moving on the Express Highway, it is growing in such a way that it has made the word "IMPOSSIBLE" to say "I M POSSIBLE".
Have you ever imagined a paint that generate a electricity, a paint that will power our house hold appliances?.

Yes! the paint that work as a solar cell, generating electricity by using sunlight is going to come into action soon.

At University of Notre Dame in U.S.A., a team of researchers leaded by Professor Prashant Kamat has created this solar paint. The paint uses semiconducting nano particles to produce energy.

Professor Prashant Kamat said "By incorporating power-producing nanoparticles, called quantum dots, into a spreadable compound, we've made a one-coat solar paint that can be applied to any conductive surface without special equipment."

How It Is Made?
Titanium dioxide (nano sized particles) is coated with either cadmium selenide or cadmium sulphide, this particles are then suspended in a water-alcohol mixture to create a paste, this paste is nothing but the solar paint. The generated paste is then applied on a transparent conducting material, now if this material is exposed to light it literally generate electricity.

Advantages Over Traditional Solar Cells

1)Photovoltaic paint has a number of advantages over traditional solar cells such as, it doesn’t have the material limitations of silicon solar cells, so it theoretically provides many terawatts of electricity at a low cost.

2)The paint can absorb light across the visible spectrum, so even cloudy days will reap lots of energy.

3)It can be available in low cost then solar cell

Thus we know what electricity means to us now and in future, nowadays many of us use solar cell inorder to conserve our limited resources. Thus this solar paint has many advantages over solar cell and it can be a acceleration point in the field of conservation of resources, so let's hope for the best.

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NE555 Timer IC

NE555 is an Timer IC in DIP (Dual Inline Package). It was designed by Hans Camenzind in 1970.
It is an integrated circuit used in variety of Timers, Oscillators and Pulse generation operation.
It was brought into market by Signetics. in 1971, later than it was acquired by Philips. It was also known by the name Time Machine at that time.

Depending on the manufacturer the IC contains about 20 Transistor, 2 Diode, and 15 Resistor installed on a silicon chip in an 8-pin DIP.

There is also other two IC's called 556 and 558. 556 IC is a 14-pin DIP and it is a combination of two 555 IC, and 558 is a 16-pin Dip with the combination of four 555 IC.

555 IC Pinouts

1) GND (Ground) : It is connected to the ground of the circuit.
2) TRIG (Trigger) : It is the trigger point at which when the input falls below 1/3 of the Vcc, the output rises and the Pulse start (Interval starts).
3) OUT (Output) : It is the output point from where the IC gives the output.
4) RESET : It is a reset point from where we can set the timing interval by connecting it to the ground.
5) CTRL (Control) : It is an control point from where we can access the Internal Voltage Divider of the IC. Internal Voltage Divider function divide the Vcc into 2/3.
6) THR (Threshold) : When the input at THR is greater than CTRL then the inteval comes to an end.
7) DIS (Discharge) : It may be used to discharge a capacitor between the interval.

8) Vcc : It is the Vcc point of the IC where input voltage to the IC is supplied, input voltage of the IC is between 3v-5v.

Looking further this IC has three operating modes:
1) Monostable mode : The monostable operation mode is a circuit that produces an output pulse of fixed duration each time the input circuit is triggered. Taking an example of an LED, if we want any LED to glow for a specific time and then switch off then we should use Monostable mode circuit.
Its other application include touch switches, frequency divider, missing pulse detection, etc.
2) Astable mode : In Astable mode the circuit produces an output pulse of fixed duration and continuously produces that pulse once triggered.
Other application include lamp flasher, security alarm, tone generation, logic clocks,etc.
3) Bistable mobe : This is also known as Schmitt trigger,in this mode 555 can operate as a flip-flop. It's uses include latch free switches.

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IC LM78XX for Power supply

The 78XX series is the series of voltage regulator IC's, this series of IC's are mostly used in power supply circuit. Due to its some advantages and low cost it is widely used .

In this series of 78XX ,"XX" is replaced by 2 digit depending on its output voltage. Such as 7805 (5 volts), 7806 (6 volts), 7809 (9 volts), 7812 (12 volts), 7815 (15 volts), 7818 (18 volts), 7824 (24 volts).




The IC consists of three terminals:

1. Input (Line voltage).
2. Ground(Common).
3. Output (VReg).

This IC consist of a heatsink, which help it from damaging through heat.

But if the current is more than the IC will get heated very fast, the solution is to join another heatsink to the IC .



I have posted some power supply project based this IC, click here (for 5v power supply circuit)

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Simple 5V Power Supply Circuit

A simple 5V power supply circuit, consisting of few components which can be found very easily. I will explain you the step by step guide to build this power supply.

First of all you need to gather some component given below :

1. T1 :0v-24v Transformer (you can also used 12v transformer)
2. D1, D2, D3, D4 : 1N4007
3. C2 :1000uF
4. C3 :100uF
5. IC : LM7805

I have gathered all the component from the faulty power supplies. Most of the power supply consist of IC LM7805, if you do not find you can buy it.
So Here is the circuit for you,

The circuit above takes the input of 240vAC and gives the output of 12vDC.

This 240 VAC is brought down by a step down transformer upto 24vAC, this AC current is then rectified using Bridge rectifier, (to know how rectifier convert AC to DC click here).

After the rectification, we need to get the current ripple free for that purpose we use 1000uF capacitor C2 (C1 is not their in the circuit above).
Now the thing we need is regulated 5V DC, IC LM7805 does this job.
It directly gives us the output of 5V.
To know more about 78XX series click here (must read it's important)

But the important thing is the current, this circuit gives about 1A,use resistor in series with the load if the current rating of your load is low.

Enjoy the circuit, if any question don't hesitate to comment.

You can subscribe our free email subscription for the updates, also you can share this post on social networking sites by clicking on the respective icons.

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Radiation from Laptop

In my last post about TIPS TO AVOID MOBILE RADIATION, i have discussed ill effect of radiation on living being and also discussed tips to avoid radiation from mobile phones.
Thus my readers have asked me to post about the radiation through laptop without Wi-Fi.

Thus we know Wi-Fi, it help us to connect through the wireless network any time any where. But still it has its disadvantages where Radiation is considered.
When we talk about the radiation through Laptop without Wi-Fi, some of us may think that there is no radiation from laptop without Wi-Fi, but it is.
The point the Radiation from the Laptop is in very small proportion that we considered as it is negligible.And it does not harm us in large proportion.

Lets get back to the Wi-Fi topic, as i discussed in my earlier post Wi-Fi radiation may also be giving us more infertility by decreasing sperm motility and damaging DNA in sperm.

Electromagnetic radiation is a product of wireless communication, and researchers suggest this radiation may be causing sperm damage. "We speculate that keeping a laptop connected wirelessly to the internet on the lap near the testes may result in decreased male fertility." says researchers.

Thus the solution for this is keep the laptop off your lap, or you can also keep it on your desk.

I suggest you to use wired connection when possible, because every wireless connection may emit Radiations.

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Tips to avoid Mobile Radiation

Radiation is a process in which energetic waves travels through a medium from one position to another. Radiation occurs when an unstable nuclei of atom decay and release particles. When these particles touches various organic matter such as damage is done. Radiation can cause cancer, burns, and also deaths.

Well according to me today Radiation is more hazardous than smoking.

Mobile are not the only cause of Radiation, but Wi-Fi, laptops, etc also causes Radiation. But the usage of mobile phone has been increased resulting in the increase in Radiation level. Hence it has to be looked urgently.


Radiation not only effect human being but it also effect other living being. Due to the Radiation birds lost their direction when they approached the antenna and start flying in zigzag direction. Earlier radiation was less, but today due to the increase in the use of mobile phones and as most of the individual has mobile phone, every individual act as an source of an Radiation.

The most common effect of Radiation on human being are,

1. Headache
2. Hair loss
3. It damages to WBC (White Blood Cells)
4. It damages our nerve cells
5. Lack of concentration

Yet this is not the end there are hundreds of effect. So try to avoid Radiation as possible.

Tips to avoid Radiation

1. Buy cellphones with low SAR ratings.
2. Minimise the time you speak on your mobile phone.
3. Avoid calling when Battery is low or when Signal is weak because at that time our mobile radiates maximum.
4. Keep your phone as far away from your body.
5. Keep the phone away while sleeping.
6. Avoid putting the phone in your left pocket as it is closer to your Heart.
7. Don't clipped your phone to your belt, as it affect the fertility.
8. Keep switching the phone to your left and right side of your head while talking.
9. Pregnant woman should avoid cellphones as it affect the foetus.
10. Avoid unwanted calls and advertisement.
11. Use landline connection.
12. Keep childrens away from the cellphone as they are more susceptible to cell damage.

(This point has been taken from efy magazine)

As i say childrens should be kept away from the cellphones because, they are the one who are using it from their childhood. The study says that if a person body having exposure to cellphone for 10 years may have started to built a tumor in their body.

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