Blueberries could soon juice up smartphones

In a project for the Nano@school program, seven Grenoble high-schoolers made solar cells from fruits and vegetables. CEA-INAC Ph.D. candidate Cyril Aumaître supervised the project, in which students extracted colorants from fruit and vegetable juices (spinach, blueberries, etc.) to make Grätzel cells, then characterize and model the cells before comparing their performance. And the outcomes were promising. A one-square-meter PV solar panel made from blueberry juice cells provides enough power to charge a smartphone in two hours. At the end of January, two of the students presented their poster at an international youth science conference in Singapore, winning the Jury’s Award—from a jury consisting of four Nobel laureates!

Learn more on the students’ blog: https://smartphoneetjusdefruit.wordpress.com/

Contact: cyril.aumaitre@cea.fr

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