Behold the power of the sun

Built a solar cell today. It's basically made of sunscreen (titanium dioxide), raspberries (for a dye that bonds to the titanium), pencil lead (for a semiconducting surface) and iodine (for the reduction and oxidation reactions). From such a small cell made of simple ingredients with a shaky procedure, I managed to get a respectable 0.25V from my cell on a cloudy day, though the current was rather low.

Organic dye solar cells promise cheaper, more efficient, and flexible cells; no more need for expensive silicon crystals encased in glass and steel. It's a pretty exciting materials technology.

OLED displays are the opposite; energy in makes light out. Cool stuff.