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DysCreteEXPERIMENTAL ENERGY PRODUCTION SYSTEMS

DYSCRETE – SOLAR POWER FROM CON CRETE

DysCrete is an in 

nova 

tive ap 

proach to the gen 

er 

a 

tion of ener 

gy, based on the same un 

-der  lying prin  ci  ples as dye-sen  si  tized solar cells (DYSC), from which it gains its name.

Like other cells based on DYSC tech  nol  ogy, DysCrete us  es organ  ic dyes to ab  sorb light

and produce elec  tric i  ty through elec trochemi  cal re  ac  tions. Anal  ysis of this still novel

process reveals a high de  gree of compat i  bil  i  ty between DYSC tech  nol  ogy and the chem  -

istry and physics of con  crete, includ  ing its ma  te  rial logic and pro  duc  tion methods. DYSC

cells are mod  eled on na  ture. Much like chlorophyll-bear  ing plants, they ab  sorb light not

with semi  con  duc  tor mate rials, but with or  gan  ic dyes held in sus  pen  sion. In this sense,

the tech  nol  ogy is an adap  ta  tion of the photosyn  thet ic process.

       

      

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THE DYSCRETE CON CEPT

The DysCrete project be  gan with the idea of a con  crete block that would gen  er  ate elec -

tric i  ty when fruit juice was poured over it. Ini  tial at  tempts proved that cement could

serve as the ba  sis for a tar  get  ed syn  th  e sis of photore ac  tive par  ti  cles and build ing ma  te  -

rials. Promising new tech  nologies and al  ter  na  tive process  es such as the DYSC cell call

for further de  vel  op ment through di  rect appli  ca  tion. The DYSC cell is one of the most ef  -

fi 

cient new solar-cell tech 

nologies, but most research 

ers have focused on the con 

sid 

er 

-

able poten  tial of glass-based trans  lu  cent mod  ules. Un  til now, the pos  si  bil  i  ty of combin  -

ing DYSC cells with con  struc  tion ma  te  rials such as con  crete has been over  looked. The

main chal  lenge is to op  ti  mize the cell’s long-term sta  bil  i  ty. DysCrete uses a spray-coat  -

ing method that can be performed in si  tu. The con  ven  tion  al en  cap  su  la  tion process, in

which the fail  ure of a sin  gle component ren  ders the en  tire cell use less, is re  placed by a

layer group ing sys  tem with a re ne  w able sand wich struc  ture that offers ex  cep  tion  al ver-

satil  i  ty in cell con  struc  tion.

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HOW THE PROCESS WORKS

Tech  ni  cal  ly, the DysCrete cell is based on a simple struc  ture of func  tion  al layers. Th  ese

combine to form a redox re  ac  tion coating that gen  er  ates en er  gy through an elec  tro-

chemi  cal process when exposed to light. This coat  ing can be cre  at  ed on con  crete sur-

faces by sys te  mat i  cal  ly mod  i  fying their phys i  cal and chemi  cal struc  ture while ap  p  lying

and in  te grat  ing spe cif  ic sub  s  tances. The elec  tric  i  ty-gen  er  at  ing ma  te  rial is refined

through a pro  cess of synth  e sis and lay  er  ing, a combi  na  tion of sin  ter  ing and spray depo-

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si  tion that can eas  i  ly be in  te grat  ed into the produc  tion of pre  fab  ri  cat  ed el  e ments. By

ad   just ing the dye and electrolyte com  ponents, the layer sys  tem can be tuned to spe  cif  ic

wave  bands of light, in  clud  ing the very edges of the vis  i  ble spec trum. One ma   jor ad  van  -

tage of dye-sen  si  tized concrete is its rel  a  tive ly low produc  tion cost, giving the sys  tem

great poten  tial as a low-cost en  er  gy source.

EN 

ER 

GY-GEN 

ER 

AT 

ING CON 

CRETE

DysCrete combines the ad  van  tages of tech  nolog  i  cal photosyn  th  e sis and con  crete. The

ba  sis of the sys  tem is concrete, with its many pos  i  tive qual  i  ties as a structu  ral prod  uct

(fire re  sis  tance, high strength and dura  bil  i  ty, vari  e  ty of con  struc  tion meth  ods). The en  er  -

gy-gen  er  at  ing func  tion is produced with freely avai  l  able com  ponents, with no ad  di  tion  al

toxic emis sions. The in  nova tive sys tem of ma  te rials is rene  w able, largely re  cyclable and

en  vi  ron men  tal  ly friend  ly. Be cause it can make use of the en  er  gy in dif  fuse light, its

struc tu  ral ap  pli  ca  tions are vir  tu  al  ly unlimit  ed com  pared to con  ven  tion  al photovol  ta  ic

sys  tems, open  ing up a world of pos  si  bil  i  ties in the field of struc  tu  ral  ly inte grat  ed photo-

vol 

taics. DysCrete is ideal 

ly suited for man 

u 

fac 

tur 

ing pre 

fab 

ri 

cat 

ed con 

crete el 

e 

mentsfor build  ing construc  tion, for new types of build  ing facades, and for in  door and outdoor

wall and floor sys  tems.

DURATION

08/01/13–09/01/2015

WEBSITE

www.forschungsinitiative.de

RESEARCH & PROJECT FUNDING

Research Initiative Future Building

Federal Institute for Research on Building, Urban Affairs and Spatial Development

Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety

COOPERATION PARTNERS

FG Werkstoffe des Bauwesens und der Bauchemie, Prof. Middendorf