Work in progress...
Project start: June 2015
With so much of my daily life being taken up by my Master's research, research into transparent electrodes and the likes. I came up with the idea to create a rudimentary piano keyboard that is fully transparent (except for the microprocessor which I am going to buy). People have already made piano keyboards out of cardboard and aluminum foil, so it is not difficult to extend that idea to glass and transparent conductive coatings.
I was debating whether to use my research the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 tri-layer transparent electrode, or the commercially available ITO as the capacitive touch sensor (the piano keys). It would be pretty cool if I used my new research for this personal project, but I decided to use the ITO slides for several reasons. One, they are commercially available. Two, they are tested and proven to be quite tough both mechanically (definitely can't rub them off) and chemically (they are only etched by strong acids). Three, they do have better electrical conductivity and optical transmittance than my MoO3/Ag/MoO3. But the most important reason of all, I can't fit the piano body into the PVD.
(In case you haven't seen my poster on the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent electrode, they are basically an ITO replacement under research, much easier to thermally deposit, and much cheaper than the Indium in ITO. Their transmittance and sheet resistance are comparable to ITO.)
I affixed the 8 keys of ITO slides onto the glass piano body via cyanoacrylate glue, which is also very transparent. And the keys will be wired to the microprocessor with copper wires and silver paste glue, because as great as ITOs are, they cannot be soldered.
Project start: June 2015
With so much of my daily life being taken up by my Master's research, research into transparent electrodes and the likes. I came up with the idea to create a rudimentary piano keyboard that is fully transparent (except for the microprocessor which I am going to buy). People have already made piano keyboards out of cardboard and aluminum foil, so it is not difficult to extend that idea to glass and transparent conductive coatings.
I was debating whether to use my research the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 tri-layer transparent electrode, or the commercially available ITO as the capacitive touch sensor (the piano keys). It would be pretty cool if I used my new research for this personal project, but I decided to use the ITO slides for several reasons. One, they are commercially available. Two, they are tested and proven to be quite tough both mechanically (definitely can't rub them off) and chemically (they are only etched by strong acids). Three, they do have better electrical conductivity and optical transmittance than my MoO3/Ag/MoO3. But the most important reason of all, I can't fit the piano body into the PVD.
(In case you haven't seen my poster on the MoO3/Ag/MoO3 transparent electrode, they are basically an ITO replacement under research, much easier to thermally deposit, and much cheaper than the Indium in ITO. Their transmittance and sheet resistance are comparable to ITO.)
I affixed the 8 keys of ITO slides onto the glass piano body via cyanoacrylate glue, which is also very transparent. And the keys will be wired to the microprocessor with copper wires and silver paste glue, because as great as ITOs are, they cannot be soldered.
