Semi-Gelatin DSSC

Gelatin Dye Sensitized Solar Cell (DSSC) combines bioplastic and DIY solar cell practices. I have developed my knowledge of how to use biological materials, as well as my interest in the agricultural field. DSSC exploits the color of nature dye from plants and the porous characteristic of TiO2 to increase the absorption of specific wavelengths to enhance its light converting rate. This material triggers the collaboration between the natural dyeing and green energy provides rich imagination to greenhouse design.

DSSC is mainly composed with 3 parts, the photo electrode, electrolyte, carbon electrode. The electrolyte and carbon electrode of this DSSC are made of gelatin, and it has obtained stable performance compared with liquid and colloidal electrolytes. Gelatin can be molded easily and it is edible, thus it is also an inspiration and joy for the field of food design and fashion. Unfortunately this "gelatin electrolyte" only outputs voltage and no current was measured, therefore the DSSC employ gelatin electrolyte can only serve as light sensor but not solar cell. Solid state electrolyte is a very profound discipline, it might be the too high resistance of the gelatin causes the zero current situation, which means only very few electron can travel through it.

step by step
Please visit Dye sensitized solar cell as light meter for the making steps and references
707, 712, 714,715,825

The photosensitivity of the DSSC gelatin can be measured by a simple arduino circuit.

The DSSC made of gelatin was measured under full sunlight, 452mV was measure, however there’s no current can be measured due to the high resistance of gelatin, it can only be used a slight sensor.

The transparency, pattern, color of the photo-electrode of DSSC can be artistically modified with screen printing and nature dyeing techniques.

Dyeing the photoelectrode by soaking it in different plants dye. The porous structure of TiO2 can highly increase the photoelectric conversion rate.

Parallel the DSSC gelatin to get higher voltage.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20waSg-fZ2E

Materials

• beef gelatin
• glycerin
• activated charcoal
• blue berries
• roselle brewed kombucha
• lycium ruthenicum
• black coffee
• black been