MaterialNews vom 08.12.2009 A Window that Washes Itself? TAU's
new nano-material may revolutionize solar panels and batteries
too A coating on windows or solar panels that repels grime and
dirt? Expanded battery storage capacities for the next electric
car? New Tel Aviv University research, just published in Nature
Nanotechnology, details a breakthrough in assembling peptides at
the nano-scale level that could make these futuristic visions
come true in just a few years. Operating in the range of 100
nanometers (roughly one-billionth of a meter) and even smaller,
graduate student Lihi Adler-Abramovich and a team working under
Prof. Ehud Gazit in TAU's Department of Molecular Microbiology
and Biotechnology have found a novel way to control the atoms
and molecules of peptides so that they "grow" to resemble small
forests of grass. These "peptide forests" repel dust and water —
a perfect self-cleaning coating for windows or solar panels
which, when dirty, become far less efficient. "This is beautiful
and protean