The PV industry slowdown may have negatively impacted the market for dye sensitised solar cells (DSSCs) but the future doesn’t look quite so grim. Market research firm IDTechEx forecasts the DSSCs market to grow to over $130 million by 2023. [ + ]

Using bundles of vertical zinc oxide nanowires, researchers have fabricated arrays of piezotronic transistors capable of converting mechanical motion directly into electronic controlling signals. The arrays could help give robots a more adaptive sense of touch, provide better security in handwritten signatures and offer new ways for humans to interact with electronic devices. [ + ]

Marl International has transformed the sports hall at one of the North of England’s most prestigious independent schools, Abbey Gate College. Marl installed LED lighting that improved the hall environment and provided much brighter and more even lighting that comes on instantly.

A new semiconductor device capable of emitting two distinct colours has been created by a group of researchers in the US, potentially opening up the possibility of using LEDs for cheap and efficient lighting. [ + ]

A power source for your mobile phone can now be as close as the nearest faucet, stream or even a puddle, with the world’s first water-activated charging device. The MyFC PowerTrekk charger relies on fuel cell technology developed at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. [ + ]

Electroactive polymers have been used for some time in actuators, capacitors and nanocomposites but, with new recent technical progress, come new growth opportunities. [ + ]

Researchers at Eindhoven University of Technology, Philips Research, Dresden University of Technology and other institutes have developed a method that allows the colour of light produced by a specific OLED design to be calculated with high precision. [ + ]

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed the most powerful microbatteries ever documented. The new microbatteries offer both power and energy, and by tweaking the structure a bit, the researchers can tune them over a wide range on the power-versus-energy scale. The batteries outpower even the best supercapacitors and could drive new applications in compact electronics and radio communications. [ + ]

Rittal’s ‘Blue e’ generation cooling units have enabled premium automaker Daimler AG to save 490 tonnes of CO₂ each year - which translates into six-figure savings in operating costs. [ + ]

Fibre offers a number of specific advantages over copper interfaces, including: much-reduced attenuation and signal distortion over long distances; greatly increased bandwidth; immunity from EMI/ESD; much-reduced cable bulk and weight; reduced latency; no electrical shock hazard or ground loop potential; and greater data security. [ + ]

What’s with this fetish for having office blocks lit up like Christmas trees that can be seen from outer space and probably beyond? I suspect it might be fashion. Somebody started lighting up their edifice, first with floodlights from the outside and then from the inside. Not to be outdone, others followed, leading to the beacons we have today. [ + ]

Diamonds are not only the hardest material known, they are a good conductor of heat and, when suitably doped, become an excellent conductor of electricity. Laurens H Willems van Beveren, a senior postdoctoral research fellow in solid state physics at Melbourne University, is researching these and other properties of diamonds to perhaps develop the next generation of transistors. [ + ]

A large proportion of the energy we produce disappears unused into thin air via waste heat. Tiny thermoelectric generators can tap this potential, whereby the electricity is produced by way of temperature differences. However, so far their production has been laborious and expensive. [ + ]

Hybrid Electronics Australia manufactures thick film hybrid (hybrid) electronic circuits which can replace PCBs, be integrated with PCBs or upgrade PCBs. [ + ]

Findings published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) show that proteins on the surface of bacteria can produce an electric current by simply touching a mineral surface. [ + ]