The Effect of Fruit Dye and Glass Size on Voltage Output of a Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell
The purpose of this experiment was to test the voltage output of a dye-sensitized solar cell; dye-sensitized solar cell were made using four fruit dyes, papaya, strawberry, green grape, and blueberry, in combination with two glass sizes, 1x1 in and 1x3 in. These were tested in attempts to find an alternative low cost solar cell to the commonly used expensive silicon solar. In order to test the different voltage outputs eight different combinations of dye-sensitized solar cells were made with the different fruit dyes and glass sizes. After each cell was made it was placed over an overhead projector and record voltage readout on a voltmeter. After analyzing the data the papaya generated the highest voltage with both the small and large conductive glasses. Two-sample t-tests were performed on the fruit dyes between the small and large conductive glass sizes of the respective fruit dye to determine if there is a statistical difference between the voltages produced. The p-values for the two-sample t-test comparing the voltage of the papaya and blueberry were both nearly zero which indicates a statistically significance difference in the voltage generated by these fruit dyes with small and large sizes of conductive glass of the same dye. Two ANOVA test were performed on the sets of data for the small conductive glass size and the large conductive glass size. There is about 0.0008% and a 0.2% chance that the values received were as extreme as they were, if the null hypothesis is in fact true for the large and small conductive glass sizes respectively. This means that there was a difference in how the type of fruit dye affects the voltage output of the cell. In conclusion, the type of fruit was found to affect the voltage output while the research found to it to be inconclusive if the glass size affects the voltage output. The papaya fruit dye produces the highest voltage output in a dye-sensitized solar cell.
Research Done By:
Benjamin Puente
Cousino High School
Catherine Rayos
Warren Mott High School
Warren Consolidated Schools