Build your own solar panel
Posted by Solar energy guru | Filed under Solar power systems
It is interesting to note that Albert Einstein’s Nobel Prize for Physics was due in part for his famous explanation of the photoelectric effect. This effect is the result of natural elements such as silicon experiencing a charge when exposed to direct sunlight. As such, photovoltaic (PV) principles are used in the construction of solar panels, or PV panels.
A solar panel is a device that converts solar energy, in the form of photons of light that arrive from the sun, into electricity. All that is needed is a stream of a variety of wavelengths of light as is the case with sunlight in addition to low temperatures. As is commonly known, solar power is an eco-friendly source of energy for which we can attribute to its popularity today.
However, it is highly refined silicon that is needed today for the construction of our most efficient solar energy producing equipment, and it is this processed silicon that is difficult and expensive to produce. Then again, silicon is not the only element known to us that exhibits this photoelectric effect. Elements such as cupruous oxide are photovoltaic and while they are less efficient in producing a flow of electricity, they are widely available in most hardware outlets. Therefore, if we are willing to supply more energy than is needed in other solar equipment, it is very possible to create a working solar panel.
In doing so, you will want to purchase a square foot of copper flashing. This will probably only set you back about five dollars at any hardware store. You may want to use electric shears to customize the size of this sheet so that it fits your electric stove; after which sandpaper can be used to remove any dirt or oxidation on the surface. You will know when your sheet is perfectly clean when it has a consistent shiny texture. Place your copper sheet onto your electric stove at its highest setting and let it grill for half an hour. As the sheet heats, you will see bright red patterns form which are then replaced by a thick black layer of oxidation. At sight of this thick black layer, your copper is done cooking.
Leave your now black copper sheet to cool naturally on the stove and soon the black cupric oxide will flake or “pop” off to reveal the beautiful red cupruous oxide underneath. Your sheet should cool to room temperature in another half an hour or so, where you can then run it under tap water to scrub off any last remnants of oxidation. Be gentle, however! You would not want to remove our red cupruous oxide which for us is going to be our active ingredient in our solar project. Take one corner and sand it down all the way back to the shiny copper and this is where you should solder down an insulated wire to create our negative lead.
The creation of our positive plate is going to be much easier. Our positive plate is going to be a U-shaped cut out of copper sheeting which is to be of a size only a little larger than our first copper rectangle. At one corner you can similarly solder another insulated wire for a positive lead.
Take this U-shaped copper cut out and use plenty of silicone glue to stick it to an acrylic or plastic window making sure that there are gaps or cavities in the glue. This is because we don’t want any of the salt water that we will use later as our electrolyte, or in other words, our medium through which we will have electric flow, to leak out. Additionally, you will to take care to ensure that the solder connection is completely covered in glue.
After this, you will want to take the exposed side of the U-shaped cut out and leave a good sized trail of glue across the entire length of it, while still leaving some exposed room for the copper to be in contact with the saltwater electrolyte. You should then gently stick the cupruous oxide copper sheet onto the U-shaped copper sheet. Thus, the glue will act as the insulator between both metals as well as create a gap between them. Note that the shinier side of the cupruous oxide should face the plastic window, so that this window is effectively the front of the panel which faces the source of light.
Fill this gap in between the metals with saltwater so that the cavity almost overflows. Then seal off the top of the space with another generous trail of silicone glue. Leave this glue to dry and harden for another half an hour and you will then have your solar cell which you can then, using the positive and negative leads, connect to a component.
You may then want to know how this solar panel does that. Cupruous oxide is a type of metal known as a semi conductor. This means that when photons of light from the sun hit the cupruous oxide, some electrons gain the precise amount of energy needed to overcome their bonds and be emitted from the metal free to conduct electricity. This is called the work function, or the ionisation energy. These free electrons move through the saltwater electrolyte to the other copper plate and across the leads, back into the first copper plate effectively creating for us a complete electric circuit.
August 7th, 2008 at 1:07 am
It’s a good idea that you guys put up a easy step-2-step info on solar panel building and maintenance.
August 20th, 2008 at 9:44 am
i need to know the meaning of copper flashing and electric shears in the above given para.can anyone help me?
August 21st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Does this ionization require a strong light source ie, is it heat driven? Or does is there an electon exchange occuing as the shiny cooper surface is bombarded with photons?
September 6th, 2008 at 3:13 pm
You humans need to STOP using me! I mean, I gave you light, and all you do is convert me into electricity?!?! I deserve better than that! PLEASE STOP…
October 2nd, 2008 at 8:41 am
i am from a poor family of wich we dont have electricity in our home we can not avoid to pay the bill evry month pls help me out, thanks u.
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:18 pm
this is a very good science project for young adalesents.
October 14th, 2008 at 7:53 am
muri,
if you don’t have electricity how can you use your pc?
October 22nd, 2008 at 5:30 pm
Solar power is not just electrical, remember a lot of electricity is used to heat water.
This is where solar industry forgets to tell people thats its not expert on energy, mainly selling equipment to service appliances that use electricity..thats naughty.
What people need to know is that they can use skylights for light, proper insulation to reduce the need heating, integrated cooking and water heating, and smarter and fewer appliances to reduce the load.
A copper flashing is a thin sheet of copper (1 or 2mm) used for weatherproofing roofs and plumbing. Electric shears would be a device for cutting such copper but also hand metal cutters can be used as well.
I am in favour of a solar industry but amazed by how limited information is on the subject.
Did yourself is great help for understanding and learning and possibly actually doing as well.
Thanks,
Nigel
October 29th, 2008 at 6:11 am
this is a very good science project for young adalesents and i want to know the elements that exhibits the photovoltaic property.
December 3rd, 2008 at 1:18 pm
can you post something about the Sun Switch and/or the Canuckle Solar trackers
December 16th, 2008 at 3:01 pm
Can you tell me what type of salt and what the strength or salt to water ratio is best, Thank You Much,,John Earley
January 20th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Trying to make a solar panel to create a solar power oven scale to power a 4 watt bulb. Can’t find anything that will get me over 50 microwatss which equals about 5, 334 solar cells which is massive at 5×5 squares. Help?
February 18th, 2009 at 7:25 am
Wouldn’t making your solar cell use more energy than what you would get from it? I once read a paper on a way to get electric from heat would be to use that wire from an electric heating element on a steel plate put in the sun. In parts of Russia they use this wire on a parrafin heater to power there televisions. I know that this idea would use the suns heat and not the light but the cost in making this would be peanuts. I’m going to build one and keep you informed of if it works or not.
April 5th, 2009 at 8:53 am
I need to know how to make a science pannel to power a radio help
May 18th, 2009 at 10:07 am
Without pictures I can’t get a grasp on how this is assembled… the U shape, is it a flat cutout that looks like a U? Is it a cross section of a pan that looks like a U? Is it both a U shape that is hammered down into a pan shape to hold water? Great project but I’m unsure how it goes together.
June 10th, 2009 at 12:14 pm
The instructions say “Place your copper sheet onto your electric stove at its highest setting and let it grill for half an hour”. I remember when an empty sause pan was accidentally heated on an electric burner of my stove. The copper cladding on the stainless steel pan began to melt, resulting in the copper forming drips on the bottom of the pan. I wonder about putting this sheet of copper on a stove set to its highest setting.
August 23rd, 2009 at 9:48 am
My concern is the period of time in which this cell will reproduce the amount of electricity that has been used in the first place by the electric stove to heat the copper plate…. – is this efficient???