Light-activated Smart Curtains

Battery less smart curtain is the latest development in smart and intelligent textiles. The new development is led by Associate Professor Ali Javey of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences at the University of California, Berkeley in the United States. The research team layered carbon nanotubes on polycarbonate membranes which activate in the presence of light. According to the researchers, the nanotubes absorb light instantaneously and convert into heat. The heat gets transferred to the polycarbonate membrane which results in the expansion of the plastic curtain. The researchers claim that such light activated plastic curtains are easy to make and can be activated using low intensity light. This work has been recently published in the journal Nature Communications. It is becoming clear that multidisciplinary approaches involving different disciplines such as polymer science, electrical engineering, material science and chemistry, to name a few are needed to develop functional and technical textiles.