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OLEDs May Generate Electricity

Posted by timothy on from the another-step-toward-off-grid-computing dept.

NewmansDaddy writes: "According to a PCMag article, 'When the OLEDs are working as a display, you apply electricity to the materials and they emit light. It turns out, however, that if you apply light to these devices, you can get them to produce electricity; in other words, they will run backward...'"

4 of 43 comments (clear)

  1. Renewable lighting? by darylp · · Score: 3, Interesting

    How well do these work when compared to traditional Solar Cell based components? With the addition of a few capacitors, it would be nice to have OLED lighting which would recharge during the day.

  2. OLED's have signifigantly shorter lifespans by Hadlock · · Score: 4, Interesting

    LED's have supposedly 100,000 hours of use in them. of course, that's at about half intensity, and they still dim over time, and it's not been fully proved (LED's haven't been mainstream for 10 years really)....

    OLED's supposedly have somthing like a maximum of 30,000 hours of life.... would using them as primitive "solar cells" decrease their lifespan considerably? or is this a possible reason as to why they have such a short lifespan?

    on a somewhat completely unrelated topic, if increasing battery life is so damn important, why haven't they started including $3 radio shack 3v solar panels on everything in existance? or does the voltage/amperage have to be >= standard voltage of the battery? we have a 200mA trickle charger for our 12v deep cycle boat battery...

    would i be able to run/charge my m100 off a $3 3v solar cell? if i underclocked it? yes, i realize it's usually in my pocket....but it does sit underneath a hallogen light when i'm @ the computer...

    --
    moox. for a new generation.
    1. Re:OLED's have signifigantly shorter lifespans by Elazro · · Score: 2, Interesting
      Re: Solar cells on portable electronics.

      They are starting to do this - an acquantaince of mine has a cell-phone with a small solar panel, which is indeed a trickle charger for the phone's battery. You can still charge it in a standard charger, but it does prolong the life of the battery. Apparently, these things are all the rage in California.

      I'm not sure where he got his from, but I've seen them for sale at www.snpower.com. Only cell-phones, and I have no experience dealing with that particular company. -matt

  3. Question... by bmh5c · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Does anybody know how expensive OLEDs are? If they can be sprayed on using inkjet printing procedures, could I just paint my whole house (or at least my roof) with them? Probably wouldn't power much, but it couldn't hurt...