A bio-waste-derived electrode has been used as a cathode in a solar device for the first time.
Researchers at the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Kolkata have used human hair to produce cost-effective, metal-free cathodes for use in solar cells. This is the first instance where a bio-waste-derived electrode has been used as a cathode in a quantum dot sensitised solar cell device.
While metal-free cathodes produced in the past have not performed as well as the traditional metal-based cathodes, the performance of graphitic porous carbon cathode produced by a team led by Prof. Sayan Bhattacharyya from the Department of Chemical Sciences has been at par with metal-based cathodes. The results were published in the journal Carbon.
“The graphitic porous carbon cathode shows an impressive performance to help converting visible sunlight to electricity (power conversion) – much higher than commercially available activated carbon cathodes and comparable with commonly used cathodes made of platinum metal and metal sulfides,” says Prof. Bhattacharyya, the corresponding author of the paper. “Our ‘green’ cathodes have the potential to bring down the cost of solar cells.”
The ‘green’ cathodes have the potential to bring down the cost of solar cells, says Prof. Sayan Bhattacharyya.
Besides its higher efficiency to convert visible sunlight to electricity, the cathode made from human hair was found to generate high open-circuit voltage, which is at par with conventional platinum and activated carbon cathodes. Thereby, the power conversion efficiencies can also be enhanced.
Producing graphitic porous carbon cathode using human hair is also simple, quick and inexpensive. Unlike in the case of other synthetic porous carbons, no physical or chemical activation process or templates were required to produce the pores of 2-50 nm diameter. The porosity along with high surface area play an important role in active diffusion of the electrolyte.
The cleaned and dry human hair was first treated with sulphuric acid at 165 degree C for 25 minutes to achieve precarbonisation. It was then heated to different temperatures in the presence of an inert gas for six hours to carbonise and bring better electrical conductivity for efficient charge transfer.
A material with high electrical conductivity can be produced by carbonising at higher temperature, but the material will not be highly porous. “With increasing temperature, the pores collapse and the porosity starts reducing. Therefore, a trade off is required between electrical conductivity and porosity,” says Prof. Bhattacharyya. “We found 850 degree C was the optimum temperature to achieve highly catalytic graphitic porous carbon for fabricating efficient green cathodes.”
Though others had developed methods to produce porous carbon matrices using human hair for supercapacitor applications, the large-scale production of porous carbon with graphitic edges and catalytically active sites by a facile synthesis procedure has been rare.
Science Chronicle 
Hey Prasad, thanks for covering this story. I had a small suggestion to make: Scientific research projects are carried out in teams wherein each member contributes a unique expertise to the project. The work is often lead by the first author along with vital inputs from the adviser. I think its appropriate to mention about the contributions of other team members besides highlighting the role of the adviser while covering such stories. I hope you find my suggestion useful.
Thanks for your inputs. When the contribution is significant I do make it a point to speak to other authors as well. But you should bear in mind that there are space constraints in a newspaper and so shorter the piece, the better the chances of it getting published. Since you were not in India, I could not speak to you.
I totally understand your point about space and being concise! Thanks once again for covering our work!