Sue, are you talking about the glow-in-the-dark paint/grout that we were talking about the other day or is this a totally different invention? I guess if it's still in production, this must be something different...?

OH! at 5x the power of solar cells, This has got to be bright. Sue, is there a website on this new future product? How did you discover this?

Jo

This really does sound interesting...any links or more info on this breakthrough would be welcomed.

I did a little search on it and came up with this link--third story down entitled "Plastic Paint that can see in the dark". I'm assuming this is what she's talking about. Pretty cool stuff!

Here is a link that might be useful: Quantum dots

These glow-in-the-dark powders probably aren't anywhere near the same league as the experimental material being developed, but they are available now. The site indicates that the powders are usable in concrete. At a bit more than $70US per pound for the brightest one with the longest glow time, it would probably be most economically used in a cement slurry outer coating. They claim substantial brightness and twelve hours of visible glow for that one. ThereÂs one that they label as "bright" with a 4hr. duration of glow for only $40/lb. :^)
You can start at their homepage and check out all the levels of brightness, colors and durations of glow that they have available.
I wasnÂt too revved up by the glowing grout that was mentioned earlier because it wasnÂt cementious. My mind is racing though, thinking of possible uses for glow-in-the-dark concrete and Âtufa.

Cheers.

Wow! I can see all kinds of applications for this stuff.

They have two types of application methods for concrete, mix-in and shake on. I would imagine that shaking the powder form onto a finished mold would make more sense from a cost perspective. That way you don't have any of the product buried within the tufa/cement/concrete used to make the mold.

This stuff would make GREAT accents to stepping stones. I walk out to my dog pen after dark many times and it would be great to have a lighted path of stones to guide me out there. (It gets REALLY DARK out at my house, way out in the boonies.)

Thanks, Sue for the link! I think I'll get a small amount to play around with.

MMW

Here is a link that might be useful: Glow Inc Concrete Applications

I have order this product and it glows very bright. I am planning to use it in my fused glass someday...when I can put away the tufa for 5 minutes! It's really quite expensive stuff but if you can use it for accents in your tufa, it may not be too bad. The people in this company are very helpful and will answer any questions you may have. I love the blue! Very bright!
Jo

I hope it's okay to post excerpts from The Toronto Sun -- I kept it because news articles don't usually stay online very long, & this is from Jan/05. The article is by Tara Brautigam of the Canadian Press.

(I've edited out everything but the pertinent parts! ;-) )

"Sun-powered material comes out of U of Toronto

Researchers at the University of Toronto have invented an infrared-sensitive material that's five times more efficient at turning the sun's power into electrical energy than current methods.

The discovery could lead to shirts and sweaters capable of recharging our cellphones and other wireless devices....

[The researchers] combined specially-designed minute particles called quantum dots with a polymer to make a plastic that can detect energy in the infrared.

... despite the surge in popularity of solar cells in the 1990s, we still miss half of the sun's power...

... the new plastic composite is, in layman's terms, a layer of film that "catches" solar energy... the film can be applied to any device, much like paint is coated on a wall.... The film can convert up to 30 per cent of the sun's power into usable, electrical energy. Today's best plastic solar cells capture only about six per cent.

... the advance would not only wipe away that inefficiency, but also resolve the hassle of recharging our countless gadgets and pave the way to a true wireless world.

"... we seem trapped at the moment in needing to plug in to get our power. That's because we charge these things up electrically, from the outlet. But there's actually huge amounts of power all around us coming from the sun."

The film has the ability to be sprayed or woven into shirts so that our cuffs or collars could recharge our IPods, Sargent said.

While that may sound like a Star Trek dream, venture capitalists are keen on Sargent's invention.

Josh Wolfe, managing partner at Lux Capital, a New York City-based venture capital firm, said while such a luxury may be five years away, the technology knows no bounds.

Sargent's work was published in the online edition of Nature Materials today and will appear in its February issue."

Oh! This may not be the material that will glow in the dark, but maybe to power a light bulb implanted into your tufa. This material would have applications in maybe solar powered cars, electric model planes, digital cameras, cell phones, etc. and if they used enough of it, maybe make solar electric plants more feasable. That's very cool! I just love this stuff. Thanks for posting it.
Jo

Thought you might enjoy seeing this glow in the dark globe.

Here is a link that might be useful: Glass Globe glows in the night

I like it!

Sue

I'm ordering some of powder glow to try from the site I listed below. I emailed them to confirm the powder can be sprinkled on the cement mix and their reply was affirmative as well. They also said you can mix the powder into the clear sealer. I'm going to do some experiementing with this as well and will post results. The site has some project results posted by individuals that's pretty interesting, check it out.
Leigh

Here is a link that might be useful: Readysetglo

gottatufa-- Do you have any pics of the blue you have used on one of your pieces? I was thinking of trying stepping stones that glowed but the cost is a factor.
Paws

Paws, I haven't had the time yet to use the blue glo powder in my tufa. I will try to do a small piece this weekend and let you know. Due to the expense, I think if you put it in a slurry and accent or paint the outside, it would be more cost effective.
Jo

Just to give an update, my first attempt was a flop. I had a leaf that was painted in fairly light colors and I mixed the glow powder with clear acrylic as recommended. I went on the low side of the ratio. I have zero glow. Will mix it stronger and try again, but I can see this will be expensive. Will keep you posted as to the next attempt.
Leigh

I ran across this thread after doing a search on glow in the dark concrete. I have tried the powders from Glow Inc. and Ready Set Glo in cement. The only powder that didnt deteriorate after a week was the "Glow Powder for Water" from Glow Inc. Glow Inc's regular powder did not work nor did the regular powder from Ready Set Glo.

I am about ready to set my whole patio with a glowing concrete using the "shake on" method. After a month of testing, the test concrete is still bright. It will be interesting to see if the actual patio glows for several years like I am hoping.

BTW, I also bought some of the Glow Rocks for a garden that is around my mailbox. I started with 1 pound, but found I needed about 10 pounds to really make it stand out like I wanted.

Karen

Is the "shake on" method shaking it on while the crete is still wet? I was going to ask for pictures but don't know how well it would show up in the dark.
Paws