PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself

NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself
2014-12-17
(Press-News.org) Nanyang Technological University (NTU Singapore) scientists have developed a smart window which can darken or brighten without the need for an external power source.

This unique self-tinting window requires zero electricity to operate and is also a rechargeable battery. The window's stored energy can be used for other purposes, such as to light up low-powered electronics like a light emitting diode (LED).

Currently, the window solutions in the market are either using permanent tinting which cannot brighten at night or are windows that can change its light transmission properties only with an external power source.

The NTU smart window however can be turned into a cool blue tint in bright daylight, cutting light penetration by about half, and then reverts back to clear glass at night or as required.

This breakthrough research led by NTU Professor Sun Xiaowei, was published recently in Nature Communications, a prestigious peer-reviewed scientific journal.

How it works

The trick to making the self-powered smart window is a new technology developed by Prof Sun's team from NTU's School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering.

"Our new smart electrochromic window is bi-functional; it is also a transparent battery," Prof Sun explained. "It charges up and turns blue when there is oxygen present in the electrolyte - in other words, it breathes."

The NTU smart window contains liquid electrolyte placed in between two glass sheets coated with indium tin oxide (ITO), commonly used as transparent conductive coatings for television displays. One sheet is coated with an additional layer of a pigment known as Prussian Blue and the other one is attached to a thin strip of aluminium foil. The Prussian Blue gives the glass a blue tint when it is fully charged.

The two glass sheets are connected by typical electrical cables. When the electrical circuit between them is broken, a chemical reaction starts between Prussian Blue and the dissolved oxygen in the electrolyte, turning the glass blue. To turn off the blue tint, the electrical circuit is closed to discharge the battery, turning the Prussian Blue into a colourless Prussian White.

Such an innovative technology can adjust the amount of sunlight coming into buildings in the day, which promises significant savings on cooling and lighting costs.

"Our technology is very attractive as a zero-sum consumption smart window. Buildings owners and even common households can reap energy savings right from the outset and over the long term. Developers who are looking at constructing environmentally-friendly green buildings will find our technology attractive for their building plans," said Prof Sun.

Prof Sun is an electrical engineering expert whose other innovations include various solar technologies, glass-free 3D technologies, next-generation lightings and displays.

The NTU team is now enhancing their invention and is looking forward to collaborating with industry partners to commercialise their technology.

INFORMATION:

Media contact:

Lester Kok
Senior Assistant Manager
Corporate Communications Office
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore
Email: lesterkok@ntu.edu.sg

About Nanyang Technological University

A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University (NTU) has 33,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the colleges of Engineering, Business, Science, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and its Interdisciplinary Graduate School. It has a new medical school, the Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine, set up jointly with Imperial College London.

NTU is also home to world-class autonomous institutes - the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre on Environmental Life Sciences Engineering - and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI), Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N) and the Institute on Asian Consumer Insight (ACI).

A fast-growing university with an international outlook, NTU is putting its global stamp on Five Peaks of Excellence: Sustainable Earth, Future Healthcare, New Media, New Silk Road, and Innovation Asia.

Besides the main Yunnan Garden campus, NTU also has a satellite campus in Singapore's science and tech hub, one-north, and a third campus in Novena, Singapore's medical district.

For more information, visit http://www.ntu.edu.sg


[Attachments] See images for this press release:
NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself 2 NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself 3

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Bugs life: The nerve cells that make locusts 'gang up'

Bugs life: The nerve cells that make locusts gang up
2014-12-17
A team of biologists has identified a set of nerve cells in desert locusts that bring about 'gang-like' gregarious behaviour when they are forced into a crowd. Dr Swidbert Ott from the University of Leicester's Department of Biology, working with Dr Steve Rogers at the University of Sydney, Australia, has published a study that reveals how newly identified nerve cells in locusts produce the neurochemical serotonin to initiate changes in their behaviour and lifestyle. The findings demonstrate the importance of individual history for understanding how brain chemicals ...

The hot blue stars of Messier 47

The hot blue stars of Messier 47
2014-12-17
Messier 47 is located approximately 1600 light-years from Earth, in the constellation of Puppis (the poop deck of the mythological ship Argo). It was first noticed some time before 1654 by Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Hodierna and was later independently discovered by Charles Messier himself, who apparently had no knowledge of Hodierna's earlier observation. Although it is bright and easy to see, Messier 47 is one of the least densely populated open clusters. Only around 50 stars are visible in a region about 12 light-years across, compared to other similar objects ...

Predicting antibiotic resistance

2014-12-17
Treating bacterial infections with antibiotics is becoming increasingly difficult as bacteria develop resistance not only to the antibiotics being used against them, but also to ones they have never encountered before. By analyzing genetic and phenotypic changes in antibiotic-resistant strains of E. coli, researchers at the RIKEN Quantitative Biology Center (QBiC) in Japan have revealed a common set of features that appear to be responsible for the development of resistance to several types of antibiotics. The study published in Nature Communications shows that resistance ...

Unraveling the light of fireflies

Unraveling the light of fireflies
2014-12-17
Fireflies used rapid light flashes to communicate. This "bioluminescence" is an intriguing phenomenon that has many potential applications, from drug testing and monitoring water contamination, and even lighting up streets using glow-in-dark trees and plants. Fireflies emit light when a compound called luciferin breaks down. We know that this reaction needs oxygen, but what we don't know is how fireflies actually supply oxygen to their light-emitting cells. Using state-of-the-art imaging techniques, scientists from Switzerland and Taiwan have determined how fireflies control ...

Severely mentally ill criminals: Who goes to prison and who goes to psych institutions?

2014-12-17
This news release is available in French. This news release is available in French. People with a severe mental disorder who commit a crime and who are incarcerated have different characteristics compared to people who are hospitalized after committing an offence. These are the findings of a study by researchers at the Institut universitaire en santé mentale de Montréal (IUSMM) and the Institut Philippe-Pinel de Montréal (IPPM), affiliated with the University of Montreal. "We found a clear difference between people with a mental illness who are ...

Combining images and genetic data proves gene loss behind aggressive ovarian cancers

2014-12-17
Cancer Research UK scientists have shown that loss of a gene called PTEN triggers some cases of an aggressive form of ovarian cancer, called high-grade serous ovarian cancer, according to a study published in Genome Biology today (Wednesday)*. In a revolutionary approach the researchers from the Cancer Research UK Cambridge Institute made the discovery by combining images from cancer samples with genetic data. They proved conclusively that loss of PTEN was commonly found only in the cancerous cells and not the 'normal' cells that help make up the tumour mass. PTEN ...

'Microlesions' in epilepsy discovered by novel technique

Microlesions in epilepsy discovered by novel technique
2014-12-17
Using an innovative technique combining genetic analysis and mathematical modeling with some basic sleuthing, researchers have identified previously undescribed microlesions in brain tissue from epileptic patients. The millimeter-sized abnormalities may explain why areas of the brain that appear normal can produce severe seizures in many children and adults with epilepsy. The findings, by researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago College of Medicine, Wayne State University and Montana State University, are reported in the journal Brain. Epilepsy affects about ...

Study reveals abundance of microplastics in the world's deep seas

2014-12-17
The deep sea is becoming a collecting ground for plastic waste, according to research led by scientists from Plymouth University and Natural History Museum. The new study, published today in Royal Society Open Science, reveals around four billion microscopic plastic fibres could be littering each square kilometre of deep sea sediment around the world. Marine plastic debris is a global problem, affecting wildlife, tourism and shipping. Yet monitoring over the past decades has not seen its concentration increase at the sea surface or along shorelines, despite experts ...

Research shows Jaws didn't kill his cousin

Research shows Jaws didnt kill his cousin
2014-12-17
New research suggests our jawed ancestors weren't responsible for the demise of their jawless cousins as had been assumed. Instead Dr Robert Sansom from The University of Manchester believes rising sea levels are more likely to blame. His research has been published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B. He says: "When our jawed vertebrate ancestors overtook their jawless relatives 400 million years ago, it seems that it might not have been through direct competition but instead the inability of our jawless cousins to adapt to changing environmental conditions." In ...

Pitt team publishes new findings from mind-controlled robot arm project

Pitt team publishes new findings from mind-controlled robot arm project
2014-12-17
In another demonstration that brain-computer interface technology has the potential to improve the function and quality of life of those unable to use their own arms, a woman with quadriplegia shaped the almost human hand of a robot arm with just her thoughts to pick up big and small boxes, a ball, an oddly shaped rock, and fat and skinny tubes. The findings by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, published online today in the Journal of Neural Engineering, describe, for the first time, 10-degree brain control of a prosthetic device in which ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

When cells run a red light: Double trouble for old models in cell division

Epigenetic reprogramming safely modifies multiple genes in T Cells simultaneously for CAR-T therapies

How hard is it to dim the Sun?

Researchers launch survey to unlock the secrets of vivid memory

Exotic roto-crystals

Dr Harriet Kildahl joins PeroCycle as Technical Director

Exercise counteracts junk food's depression-like effects through gut-brain metabolic signaling

Genetic link discovered between childhood intelligence and parental longevity

Psychedelics reshape time perception offering new therapeutic pathways

Genetic inflammation markers reveal distinct depression subtypes affecting treatment response

Understanding how menopause symptoms can complicate treatment of traumatic brain injuries

Digestive issues more common during perimenopause and menopause

Oral or transdermal hormone therapy? The mental health risks are not the same

When women initiate estrogen therapy matters

Risk of eye disease increases during menopause transition

Life in the fast (and slow) lanes for salmon

Early natural menopause linked with higher risk of metabolic syndrome

Earlier menopause and reduced cardiac function can take a toll on brain health

Feeling anxious during menopause? Hormone therapy may or may not help

Likelihood of being prescribed hormone therapy may depend on the type of provider seen

The role of genetics in modifying the link between earlier menopause and memory decline

Who watches the AI watchman?

Female bodybuilders at risk of sudden cardiac death

Garment factories are sweltering. These simple fixes could keep workers safe

‘Slums’ of Victorian Manchester housed wealthy doctors and engineers, new study reveals

Winners of Applied Microbiology International Horizon Awards 2025 announced

Most of Wine Country’s agricultural workers have been exposed to wildfires, new survey finds

Obesity-related cancer rising among both younger and older adults worldwide

A 'Rosetta Stone' for molecular systems

What goes up must come down – scientists unearth “universal thermal performance curve” that shackles evolution

[Press-News.org] NTU Singapore invents smart window that tints and powers itself