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New Delhi, April 30: The students of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Roorkee created low-cost solar cells using jamun. Their research work has earned appreciation from across the scientific corners of the nation, as the creation is in unique in its kind. The team of students have also prepared a blueprint to market their research work. According to them, the use of jamun for solar cells is a compatible option due to the widespread availability of the fruit across the nation.
The researchers at IIT Roorkee used ethanol to extract the dark colour pigment from the jamun. With the use of photosynthesizers, they extracted Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSCs) or Gratzel cells from the Jamun pigment.
Gratzel cells are thin film solar cells composed of a porous layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) coated photoanode, a layer of dye molecules that absorbs sunlight, an electrolyte for regenerating the dye, and a cathode.
These components form a sandwich-like structure with the dye molecule or photosensitizer playing a pivotal role through its ability to absorb visible light.
“The dark colour of jamun and abundance of jamun trees in IIT campus clicked the idea that it might be useful as a dye in the typical Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSC),” lead researcher Soumitra Satapathi, assistant professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee in Uttarakhand, told PTI.
Natural pigments are way economical in comparison to regular Ruthenium-based pigments and scientists are optimising to improve the efficiency,” said Satapathi, who is also a visiting professor at the University of Massachusetts Lowell in the US.
“The increasing pressure on fossil fuels and concern of global warming has inspired continuous search for alternate energy,” said Satapathi
Uncertainty over the pace at which new large dams or nuclear plants can be built means strong reliance on solar power – an area where India has high potential and equally high ambition – to deliver on the country’s pledge to build up a 40 per cent share of non-fossil fuel capacity in the power sector by 2030, researchers said.
“In principle, we have a large social need for renewable energy especially solar energy. For quite sometime, our lab is actively engaged in low cost high efficiency solar cells production,” said Satapathi.
(With inputs from agencies)
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