The Effect of Surface Area and Angle of Incidence on Output of Chlorophyll Solar Cell

The evolution of the study of green technology is one of the most important projects today. Organic photovoltaic are one of the leading prospects in this field of research and utilize renewable materials to generate solar power much like a silicon based solar cell. Organic photovaltics have a distinct advantage over their silicon based counterparts in that they are cheaper to produce and far less harmful to the environment.  The purpose of this experiment was to further this field by creating a variant of the organic photovoltaic cell known as the dye sensitized cell. This chlorophyll dye was used due to how inexpensive it is to manufacture, very limited environmental impact, and the prospect of dramatically increasing energy output.  The data was collected by testing different surface area solar cells at varying angle of incidences. Each cell was exposed to a high intensity light and the voltage generated by each cell was measured. The data was then analyzed using a two-sample t test was used to determine the significance of surface area and angle. After the conclusion of the experiment, the large area solar cells routinely generated over 1 volt of electricity per cell and it was determined that surface area was a significant effect at any angle of incidence.

Research Conducted By:

Nick Giallombardo
Cousino High School

Nate Nunez
Cousino High School

 

 

 

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