phys.org has a report on reusing Blu-Ray disks as nanoimprinting templates for solar cells, improving performance.
Using the pattern from the Blu-Ray, the compressed data sequences:
...resulted in a quasi-random array of islands and pits (0s and 1s) with feature sizes between 150 and 525 nanometers. And this range, it turns out, works quite well for light-trapping applications over the entire solar spectrum.
The overall broadband absorption enhancement of a Blu-ray patterned solar cell was measured to be 21.8 percent, the researchers report.
Also covered at IEEE Spectrum, and from the Spectrum article:
While it’s certainly appealing to think about recycling our Blu-ray discs directly into more efficient solar panels, a more realistic approach might be to use the mass-production infrastructure that’s already in place to create optical media that’s adapted to improving solar cell performance.
(Score: 3, Funny) by Kromagv0 on Wednesday November 26 2014, @07:49PM
Finally a use for Gigle Blu-Rays.
T-Shirts and bumper stickers [zazzle.com] to offend someone
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 26 2014, @07:58PM
heh while funny which bluray produced the best results?
Is it a particular pattern? Or just simply because it appears random?