Abstract

Polymer Micro Photosynthetic Power Cell: Design, Fabrication, Parametric Study and Testing

Energy and its importance are undoubtedly some unquestionable topics of all times. Not only the environmental impact of our main energy source – fossil fuels – but also their limited quantity made the human-kind find alternate sources of energy. Moreover, in the recent years there has been lots of attention on green energy. The challenge however, is finding suitable energy sources and developing appropriate energy harvesting devices.

Photosynthesis is among the most frequent and vital processes occurring all over the planet and recently, it has been found to be a potential promising energy source. The challenge still remains developing an appropriate energy harvesting device. Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) enables fabrication of devices that the human-kind was not able to produce before.

So far there has been a vast research and investment on solar cells and fuel cells. However, the potential energy source mentioned earlier (photosynthesis) has not received as much attention. This work is an attempt to develop a device capable of harvesting energy from photosynthesis using nontraditional materials and processes used in MEMS.
A Micro Photosynthetic Power Cell (μPSC) was fabricated and tested for performance. Then, using no-load performance optimal fabrication parameters were suggested. Some environmental and operational parameters were studied and properties such as voltage-current characteristics and long-term behavior were studied. The results and outputs of the μPSC developed in this study were presented in forms of power and current densities for comparison purposes and eventually, some points were suggested for future studies.

Open circuit voltage of more than 900 mV was measured. The measured current varied from zero (open circuit) to 840 μA (short circuit). At the peak power generation of 175 μW, approximate voltage and current correspond to 400 mV and 400 μA. These results correspond to a noticeable power generation of 36.1 μW/cm2 which is comparable to that of μPSCs fabricated previously by other groups.