Nanotechnology Principles Lab: Nanocrystalline Solar Cells

Description: 
This Nanotechnology Principles Lab: Nanocrystalline Solar Cells is provided by SHINE: Seattle's Hub for Industry-driven Nanotechnology Education. This lab includes activities that are designed to teach students about solar cells. The lab includes the following learning objectives: 

• To gain a basic understanding of circuits and how solar cells work
• To build and test a solar cell made using nanocrystalline TiO2 and juice from raspberries
• To understand how renewable energy benefits the environment
• To understand how nanotechnology can increase the efficiency of solar cells

Contents:
This collection of resources includes a Nanocrystalline Solar Cells PowerPoint presentation, a lab activity, a lab instructor guide, a material safety data sheet, a nanocrystalline solar cells background document, and a document of references.

The Nanocrystalline Solar Cells PowerPoint presentation covers topics such as electricity, closed circuit, open circuit, solar cells, commercial solar cells, solar land requirements, solar cell components, parts of the solar cell, nanocrystalline structure, and more. 

The 10-page nanocrystalline solar cells lab includes a list of pre-lab materials needed, safety information, a pre-lab procedure, pre-lab questions, lab procedures, and discussion questions.

The 1-page instructor guide includes pre-lab procedures and directions. 

The 7-page background document provides learning outcomes and background on nanocrystalline solar cells and includes information on Washington EALR Alignment, Oregon Content Standards Alignment, Idaho Content Standards Alignment, and more.

The 1-page Reference document includes a list of links to news/research articles and a video.

For orientation purposes SHINE_Solar Cells Background.pdf is included as a separate attachment and offers a sample of the type of material included in this curriculum. 

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis. 

Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab (9 files, 5.6 MB)

• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells (SHINE_Lectures_Solar Cells.pptx 1.8 MB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab Instructor Guide (SHINE_Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab - Instructor Guide.pdf 287 KB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab Safety Data Sheets (SDS) (SHINE_Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab SDS.pdf 619 KB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab (SHINE_Nanocrystalline Solar Cells Lab.pdf 1.6 MB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells (SHINE_Solar Cells Background.pdf 394 KB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells  (SHINE_Solar Cells Lab - Version A.pdf 334 KB)
• Nanocrystalline Solar Cells (SHINE_Solar Cells Lab - Version B.pdf 321 KB)
• References (SHINE_Solar Cells References.pdf 281 KB)