How can blackberry juice help students learn about solar energy? On Friday, October 23, 2026, we welcomed 12 students from Summit High School to our Blackberry Solar Cell Lab. Students used blackberry juice to build their own solar cells, tested how much electrical power they could produce, and then explored the materials behind their devices at a much smaller scale.
Using one of VINSE鈥檚 scanning electron microscopes, students observed features far too small to see with the naked eye. These microscopes can magnify objects up to 500,000 times, revealing nanoscale features about 50,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair. By seeing these tiny structures firsthand, students learned how a material鈥檚 nanoscale features can play an important role in how effectively a solar cell captures sunlight.
Thank you to our NanoGuides Emma Bartelsen, Vikash Khokhar, Jack Loken, Mario Ojeda, and Emily Rouse for sharing their time and expertise and helping our students get the most out of their visit!
Interested in giving your students the chance to experience VINSE for themselves? Our hands-on, fully equipped program is completely free! Contact vinse@vanderbilt.edu for more information.