Flow with the Glow.....
Several years ago I received what looked like a legitimate press release -If I recall, I think they called it a light cube. It was supposed to absorb sunlight during the day and release it as light during the night. Well I was impressed. But I should have noticed that it was emailed on April 1st...April Fool's Day And I, as well as others, were taken in by the hoax.
Little did I know that a Chicago-based nanotechnology company called GnXpert and GnXpert Color has been quietly working away on the very same technology--photonic peizo-electric crystals for the last 15 years -These crystals can absorb light and give it off in the dark.
Sold under the brand name Cii-LITE™, this new class of glowing and reflection enhancing additives are designed for industrial uses, such as: paints and coatings; metal, glass, plastics; vinyl; inks; leather; textiles; cosmetics; automotive; marine industries; and safety applications, imparting properties of enhanced aesthetics, impact resistance, durability, luminescence and reflectivity.
Gnxpert Color's technology provides a full color spectrum and different special effects through nano particle blends of non-organic materials, which are chemically inert, environmentally safe, and made from recyclable materials.
Cii-LITE™ is available in various colors - aqua blue, sky blue, violet, white, yellow, green, red and orange, and in sizes of: 0.5, 1, 5, 12, 25, 40, 90, 120, 150 ,180 microns and 1mm.
Glowing time varies, up to 20 hours.
Cii-LITE™ crystals are ceramic-metallic structures and work as a photonic battery, after exposure to any source of light for several minutes. (life time up to 15 years) Also, Cii-LITE™ creates a photonic effect after reacting to Infra-Red sources of light; The same photonic effect could be generated by stressing it (for military applications) Imagine mixing Cii-LITE™ with metal rods, beams or in concrete, Undue stress or cracks would be visible as a luminescent light source.
I visited GnXpert in Chicago this past week and I must say, I was really impressed.
The first commercial applications of Cii-LITE™, will be glow-in-the-dark t-shirts, available soon at Wal-mart, Sears and Target in the USA.
I can imagine a host of other useful applications, such as glow-in-the-dark: bicycle helmets, airport runways and buildings, hard hats, lines painted on roads that don't need headlights to reflect light, road signs, safety tapes, exit signs and advertising signs and bill boards that make neon signs almost obsolete and well as the need for so much electricity to light them up ..(could be used as backup) and many more.
The example on the left shows two samples of ordinary reflective paint and the middle sample has glow-in-the-dark CII Lite incorporated onto the paint.
GnXpert has several potentially viable nanotech products in its R&D pipeline...AND ..MORE EXCITING ONES ON THE WAY....a number of which are not just nanotech based products but could create an entirely new and disruptive industry niche.
If their R&D efforts pan out...look out for some exciting disruptive innovations.
ETA: Cii Lite - available now
see theGnXpert Color web site and GnXpert home page
see GnXpert Power Point Presentation that covers other R&D nanotech areas
© 2005-2006
Expert, Consultant and Guest Speaker on emerging Smart Technologies, Strategic Planning, Business Development, Lateral Creative Thinking and author of an upcoming book on the Smart Economy "
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