The magical house that generates its own electricity and changes color.

A new material could enable future homes to generate their own electricity and change color at the owner's discretion.

In addition to generating electricity, graphene can also allow homeowners to change the color of their walls at any time. Photo: designspectre.com.

Graphene is a layer of carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal (honeycomb) lattice, with a distance between carbon atoms of 0.142 nm. Graphene films have a thickness equivalent to the diameter of an atom. It possesses several unique properties. For example, it is stronger than steel but very easily stretched. Graphene has very high electrical and thermal conductivity.

Andre K. Geim and Kostya Novoselov, two scientists from the University of Manchester in England, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2010 for their work in fabricating, purifying, identifying, and characterizing graphene.

Now, the two scientists and their colleagues at the University of Manchester are looking to combine graphene with other ultrathin materials to create coatings for solar panels, the Telegraph reports.

This coating is about the same thickness as paper but very flexible. It can absorb light to generate electricity. Therefore, it can be used to coat the exterior of houses. Once the coating adheres to the wall or roof, it will absorb light to generate electricity for the appliances inside the house. In addition, the coating can change color under human control. However, the research team did not explain the mechanism of the coating's color change.

If phone manufacturers wanted to eliminate batteries from mobile phones, they could apply a new type of paint to the phone casing. If batteries disappear, future phones will be much thinner than today's phones.

According to VnExpress - VT