A WALK IN THE WOODS - University at Buffalo

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shortformERIC HANSONRESEARCH NEWSSolar cells may offerpower on the goImagine hiking an isolated stretch of the Appalachian Trail. Youfear you’re lost. The trail map isn’t helping. And the battery in yoursmartphone, with its GPS unit, is dead. “Man,” you nervously say toyourself, “I wish I could charge my phone.”Being stuck in a remote area with limited or no access toelectricity is more common than you might think. Just ask a soldier,a lumberjack or an angler. It’ll soon be less common, however,because researchers are developing energy-harvesting solar cellsthat can be sewn into clothing, backpacks and other materials.“They work like conventional solar cells but, because theyare flexible, like paper, we can affix them to many surfaces,”says Qiaoqiang Gan, assistant professor of electrical engineering.“With flexible solar cells, we can provide soldiers, hikersand other people on-the-go with a means to power their electronicdevices.”Before that happens, researchers must find a way to makeflexible solar cells more efficient and less expensive to manufacture.Gan is tackling the problem with the help from a teamof UB researchers and graduate students.Thin-film solar cells now used in industry are easy to installand lightweight, and they can be rolled onto rooftops like acarpet is rolled onto a floor. Made of silicon and other inorganicmaterials, they’re generally more costly to manufacture thanconventional solar panels. On the other hand, liquid-based solarcells—the type Gan is working on—are a kind of thin-film solarcell. But because they come in liquid form, they can be affixed toa greater variety of surfaces.“Unlike what’s available today, liquid-based solarcells are not rigid. They’re flexible, like paper,” Ganreiterates. “As a result, they can be fabricated over large areas,potentially becoming as inexpensive as paint.” The referenceto paint does not include a price point but rather the idea thatliquid solar cells could one day be applied to surfaces as easilyas paint is to walls.The main reason liquid-based solar cells aren’t yet for saleis that they don’t produce enough power to make them competitivewith other solar panels. Gan is working to change that,using an assortment of high-powered computers, lasers andother gadgets to devise ways to incorporate tiny bits of metalinto solar cells. The metal, when placed next to the solar cells,should help them convert more sunlight into electricity.So far, he has conducted computer simulations that suggestthe nanostructure will significantly boost the solar cell’spower conversion. Gan will work with Alexander N. Cartwright,UB professor of electrical engineering and biomedical engineering,and vice president for research and economic development,to combine the metal and the solar cell. The results, he sayswith a grin, should be electrifying.UNIVERSITY NEWSShake, rattle and not much rollEarly results from an earthquake simulation test suggest that cold-formed-steel buildingsmay be able to withstand major earthquakes. Researchers from The Johns HopkinsUniversity, who led the experiment Aug. 16 at UB’s Structural Engineering and EarthquakeSimulation Laboratory, programmed the shake tables to mimic ground forces feltduring 1994’s catastrophic earthquake in Northridge, Calif. During the test, the shaketables violently jolted the building back and forth, causing cracks to interior and exteriorwalls. But the building, based on preliminary analysis, withstood the quake’s forces.6 UBTODAY Fall 2013 www.buffalo.edu/ubt
RESEARCH NEWSThe Perfect PourBefore the installation, Phil Stevens sits with HRM Oba Yakubu Babalola, the traditional ruler ofEsie (left) and the traditional ruler of a neighboring town, one of many invited for the event.UB PEOPLEProfessor honored as Nigerian chiefBeing installed as a Nigerian chief in an elaborate ceremony in Decemberin the Yoruba town of Esie was a high point of his career, saysUB anthropologist Phillips Stevens Jr. But that was just the beginning:Stevens learned after the installation ceremony that a research centerwill be built in the town and named for him. “This is a double honor,”Stevens said not long after he returned from Nigeria. “I don’t think it’ssunk in yet.”Both honors recognize Stevens’ work in the 1960s preserving thestone images of Esie, Africa’s largest and most mysterious collection ofstone carvings. His work, part of his duties during a stint with the PeaceCorps, put Esie on the map and sparked an economic boon for the town.Stevens, associate professor of anthropology, was one of 17 peopleinstalled as chiefs by the traditional ruler of the town, HRM Oba YakubuBabalola, as part of his 25th anniversary celebration. Stevens receivedthe chieftaincy title “The Erewumi of Esie Kingdom”; Erewumiroughly translates to “the images and I get along well.” “Erewumi” isinscribed in gold beads on his chieftain cap.The Phillips Stevens Jr. Center for Esie Studies will be the centerof further research on the soapstone figures he helped repair anddocument.Hong Luo doesn’t drink beer himself—he’s allergic toalcohol. But Luo, chair of the physics department, knowsall about the secrets of pouring a smooth brew. That’sbecause it’s just basic physics.Cans with significantly wider mouths or two holes—which some brands are newly marketing—really do cutdown on foam and awkward glugging, Luo says. Thefirst concept to understand is atmospheric pressure.In a nutshell, the atmosphere of the Earth—all the airmolecules floating around us—exerts a force that pusheson objects.What does this have to do with drinking beer? Asliquid exits a can, it leaves behind a vacuum—a totallyempty space in which you won’t find anything, not evenair molecules.“Once you create this vacuum, the atmosphericpressure is going to push air in,” Luo says. “It’s adramatic effect: Each time you drink, you create a smallvacuum, and the atmosphere responds by pushing air in.”A super-wide hole or a second hole placed some distanceaway from the first enables this pressure equalization tooccur without obstructing the beer leaving the can.As such, when it comes to getting an unbubbly pour,today’s single-hole, pop-top beer cans may be inferior toold-time counterparts that required consumers to puncha hole on each side of a smooth lid—one for drinking, theother for taking in air.ACADEMIC NEWS UB broke groundfor its downtown medicalschool on Oct. 15, ushering ina new era of medical education, treatmentand discovery. More at medicine.buffalo.edu/new-medical-school.For the latest in campusnews reports go towww.buffalo.edu/newswww.alumni.buffalo.edu UBTODAY Fall 2013 7
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