IIT Roorkee scientists have found a way to create solar cells which are inexpensive and for creating these inexpensive and more efficient cells they are using a delectable and local Indian fruit known as 'Jamun'.
According to the reports, the scientists for creating solar cells are using naturally occurring pigment which is found in Jamuns for creating Dye Sensitised Solar Cells (DSSCs) or Gratzel cells.
About Gratzel cells
- These cells have been named after their Swiss inventor, Michael Gratzel. Instead of using silicon these cells rely on titanium dioxide (TiO2), which is cheap and is available widley.
- From paints to coffee whiteners, this material is found in almost everything.
- "These cells are thin film solar cells composed of a porous layer of TiO2 coated photoanode, a layer of dye molecules (that absorbs sunlight), an electrolyte for regenerating the dye, and a cathode".
- All this material is carefully assembled in a sandwich like structure in which dye molecule plays an important role because of its ability to absorb white light.
Members of the research team and are very optimistic about this discovery and are hopeful that this could be utilized for mass production of solar cells in India.
"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.