Jugni, Dhola and Mahiya: Comparing

Among the amazing variety of forms of poetic expression by the folk of the Punjab region, this essay has selected three genres: mahiya, dhola and jugni. The study is meant to compare these three genres of Punjabi folklore, in their evolution, structure, expression and themes. The study finds that the three genres are very old in time origin and tracing their exact origins in history is impossible, only few hints are available. Their structures are variable, as mahiya has a fixed structure, dhola has rather loose structure giving more freedom to the singer-poet, and jugni has a specific meter in certain lines, but it has freedom to repeat some lines for perfect expression of the melody. The structures in fact follow the tunes, distinct for each genre. Three genres have many themes common, but jugni has spirituality as dominant theme, dhola has expression of love as dominant them and mahiya has now become quite inclusive, but it originated as expression of love and it still retains that character in its core. The folk heart of Punjab has endeared these three genres so much that these are appreciated far and wide in original tunes, but new experiments of tunes and themes are also underway. Being a true mirror of simple unsophisticated villagers these folk songs would lose popularity if these villagers become sophisticated hence the need for their preservation is highlighted in this study.

Fabrication and Efficiency Evaluation of Dye-Sensitized Solar Cell Based on Various Electrode Materials

One of the challenges for efficient and low-cost dye-sensitized solar cells (DSSCs) is the development of suitable cost- effective counter electrode (CE) materials. CE must be able to accept and release electrons efficiently. Platinum is generally used as catalytic CE for redox mediators in electrolyte solution. Unfortunately, platinum is expensive and non-sustainable for long-term applications. Therefore, researchers are developing low-cost and earth abundant alternatives. In this study, the composites of polymer (Polyaniline and Polypyrrole) with metals (silver, gold, copper) were synthesized by electrodeposition technique. These composites were tested for potential use as a highly efficient electrocatalyst for CE in DSSCs. Compared to the bare polymer CE, metal/polymer composite (silver/polyaniline, gold/polyaniline, copper/polyaniline, silver/polypyrrole, gold/polypyrrole and copper/polypyrrole) CEs show a high electrocatalytic activity for I3−/I− redox reaction, demonstrated by higher cathodic peak currents, lower values of peak to peak separation, and greater exchange current densities. The large electrocatalytic activity is of great significance for improving the efficiency of DSSCs. Among the different metal/polymer composites, copper/polypyrrole composite based DSSC exhibits a highest power conversion efficiency of 7.42%. This power conversion efficiency is also greater than a thermally decomposed Pt based DSSC (6.18%). The improved efficiency of the DSSC is due to following aspects: Firstly, polypyrrole film shows a porous surface that leads to improve the electrolyte/electrode interaction, employing additional electrocatalytic sites for the reduction of triiodide. Secondly, the high electron-transport network formed by the Cu nanorods on polypyrrole surface is also responsible for enhanced efficiency. This highlighted the importance of the large surface area, good accessibility of electrolyte into the CE, and appropriate conductivity of composite material, underlining a synergetic effect between polymer and metal nanostructures. The main limitation of DSSC is, however, the heavy, expensive, and inflexible transparent conducting glass typically used as CE substrate. To address this problem, this study concentrates on the transfer of the DSSC technology from transparent conducting glass substrates to light- weight, cost-efficient and flexible stainless steel sheet as CE substrate.