Polarizing organic photovoltaic film [red square](via UCLA)
UCLA's "polarizing organic photovoltaic," (POP) takes the concept of recycling energy to the next level. Imagine recovering a percentage of the energy output of a smartphone screen, while at the same time from ambient light sources. At the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science a thin film photovoltaic polarizer has been built directly into an LCD to allow the possibility to harvest energy from multiple sources.
A liquid crystal display, LCD, consists of two polarized sheets sandwiching crystal molecules suspended in a fluid. Only a certain amount of light is allowed to pass through as backlighting. The crystals act as a transistors, where each can be turned on or off, acting as a single light source. Energizing a certain area of crystals then turn into a single lit pixel. The UCLA POP replaces the top polarizer layer with a photovoltaic film. Where backlight can be absorbed, which accounts for majority of energy used in a portable screen based device. UCLA researchers stated that 75% of backlight energy is lost through the polarizers. Their system re-collects that energy in addition to all external sources.
"I believe this is a game-changer invention to improve the efficiency of LCD displays," said professor of materials science at UCLA Engineering and principal investigator Yang Yang, on the research. "In addition, these polarizers can also be used as regular solar cells to harvest indoor or outdoor light. So next time you are on the beach, you could charge your iPhone via sunlight."
A game changer indeed. A simple statement, but encompassing what has to be done with all our screen based portable devices. It took natural resources to charge a phone in the first place. It is a insult to the world wasting 75% of that energy. Think about it, 3 billion phones, tablets, and laptops needing to charge a lot less.
Cabe
