Created: 3/2/2009 12:15:57 PM 
JACKSONVILLE, FL -- What if you could paint something on your hat and it would charge your iPod?
Nathan Monroe has a patent pending for the concept.
Is Nathan a veteran NASA scientist? A highly-paid R&D guy with some big corporation?
Maybe someday. But not now.
Currently, Nathan is a senior at Episcopal High School in Jacksonville.
His research on solar paint has impressed researchers at the University of Florida.
In fact, he is already working with scientists at UF on increasing the efficiency of the solar paint. And this fall he's been accepted at the prestigious MIT.
Nathan's vision for solar paint goes way beyond the brim of a baseball cap.
He explains, "You could paint it on a solar panel on a car as a replacement for the original paint and use the panel to power the car."
Another option? He says you could carry the solar paint in a bucket up to your roof, paint the roof, and help power your home.
"The possibilities are endless," Nathan says.
So what is solar paint? The original invention came from a Canadian, but Nathan is advancing the research.
He has poured five years of work into the topic through his ongoing science fair project.
The solar paint, Nathan says, weighs much less than the expensive solar panels now on roofs.
NASA would be interested, he says, because its panels on the International Space Station could be more cost effective.
Right now with fuel costs, Nathan says, NASA has to pay $200 to lift one pound into space.
So what's the big hurdle for Nathan?
Solar panel technology has a 20-25% efficiency, Nathan says, compared with only 2-3% efficiency for solar paint.
However, Nathan is making significant progress to change that.
His science fair project research involves making the nanofibers of the solar paint larger by manipulating zinc oxide.
"You can think of the nanofibers as a field of grass," he says, and the blades are zinc oxide.
How did Nathan get the attention of the adult scientific community? (In other words, how did a teenager wind up working with researchers at the University of Florida?)
According to his science teacher at Episcopal, Marion Zeiner, Nathan gained recognition through science fairs.
Last year, Nathan won second place at the International Science Fair. (In fact, Zeiner says Episcopal won more place awards than any other school in the world.)
This year, if Nathan wins first place, he'll receive a $50,000 scholarship.
Zeiner says for all students, science fairs are an amazing way to propel them into the scientific community.
Certainly for Nathan the science fair experience is worthwhile.
"I do believe Nathan has the ability to win a Nobel Prize someday," Zeiner says.
By the way, over the weekend Nathan won first place in the state Science Olympiad for the electric car which he designed.
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