Photoelectric bites

Temporary photoElectric Digestopians Worklab Series

Edible Solarcells

Enlarge

Tactile Research Lab - Picture taken at Temporary photoElectric Digestopian Worklab #1, Tactile Research Lab, The Hague, Nov.8, 2010. Image found on Flickr's website by Bartaku

Bartaku's project fused cooking and solar tech. It consist of experimentations on the transformation of light energy into electric energy with food. Often photovoltaic-tech is compared with the plant leaf's capacity of harvesting the Sun's energy. But there is only one type of PV-cell that mimics significantly the natural process of photosynthesis: the natural Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (nDSC). It is made of the dyes of anthocyanin or carotenoid-rich fruits like berries, currants, black beans etc., some titanium-dioxide (cf. white paint, toothpaste) some graphite or carbon and an electrolyte, all sandwiched between two tiny conductive (tin-oxide) glass plates. Unsurprisingly the plants that produce the energetic nDSC-dyes are very popular amongst the bees.