University of Notre Dame Archives – The Green Optimistic green tech news, since 2008 Tue, 01 May 2012 11:50:40 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 2667534 Reinventing The Transistor: TFET Technology Reaches New Efficiency Heights https://www.greenoptimistic.com/tfet-transistor-efficiency-20120327/ https://www.greenoptimistic.com/tfet-transistor-efficiency-20120327/#respond Tue, 27 Mar 2012 13:35:58 +0000 https://www.greenoptimistic.com/?p=23664 Tunneling Field Effect transistors (TFETs) have been worked on for many years as an alternative to today’s FETs, which are the transistors used in power electronics including electric cars. The main advantage of TFETs over simple FETs is efficiency by the fact that it produces less heat. Now, researchers from University of Notre Dame, ID […]

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]]> https://www.greenoptimistic.com/tfet-transistor-efficiency-20120327/feed/ 0 23664 New Nuclear Waste Recycling Technology Discovered by Notre Dame Researchers https://www.greenoptimistic.com/nuclear-waste-recovery-notre-dame-20120323/ https://www.greenoptimistic.com/nuclear-waste-recovery-notre-dame-20120323/#comments Fri, 23 Mar 2012 21:26:26 +0000 https://www.greenoptimistic.com/?p=23629 Maybe the folks at Fukushima should hear about this, or more precisely those handling the recovery process, which is far from over: as the latest discovery in the field, the Notre Dame Thorium Borate-1 (NDTB-1) is apparently just what you need to clean up a radioactive mess. Although the current trend is all for clean […]

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]]> https://www.greenoptimistic.com/nuclear-waste-recovery-notre-dame-20120323/feed/ 2 23629 Sun-Believable: Solar Cell Paint Developed by University of Notre Dame Researchers https://www.greenoptimistic.com/sun-believable-solar-cell-paint-20111228/ https://www.greenoptimistic.com/sun-believable-solar-cell-paint-20111228/#respond Wed, 28 Dec 2011 14:34:59 +0000 https://www.greenoptimistic.com/?p=21686 You think you’ve seen it all, but you haven’t – at least regarding solar energy production! Nowadays, you can produce your own heat by just painting your house with the right kind of paint! An innovative paint of this kind would do a lot more than just free up space on your roof by displacing […]

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]]> https://www.greenoptimistic.com/sun-believable-solar-cell-paint-20111228/feed/ 0 21686 Skin-Like Piezoelectric Device Could Save Thousands of Dollars by Replacing Batteries https://www.greenoptimistic.com/eh-skin-piezoelectric-device-20110421/ https://www.greenoptimistic.com/eh-skin-piezoelectric-device-20110421/#respond Thu, 21 Apr 2011 07:50:00 +0000 https://www.greenoptimistic.com/?p=18120 Researchers from the University of Notre Dame in the US have designed a PZT (lead zirconate titanate) piezoelectric device that resembles skin (they called it the EH skin) and that can harness energy from the mechanical work applied to it. The new device can be used in a variety of applications, ranging from wireless sensor units to patches that get energy from vibrations and pass it on to the grid. The sample they tested got as much as 3.7 mW.

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