Magic Dye

This activity, produced by Solar Spark, uses "magic dye", a mixture of three different dye molecules. The mixture contains a yellow disperse dye, a direct blue dye and an acid red dye. When a fabric is put into the mixture, the dyes only attach to the types of fabrics they can bond well with. For example, the blue and yellow dyes both bond well to polyester cotton so therefore the material looks green when it comes out of the mixture.

In photovoltaic solar cells, the semiconductors are dyed to make them absorb light more efficiently. It is important to make sure that the dyes attach well to the semiconductor to do it’s job and this depends on good bonding between the dye and the semiconductor.

This activity can be used to illustrate:
* properties of materials
* chemical bonding