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Author Topic: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells  (Read 86103 times)

hartiberlin

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Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« on: June 04, 2005, 07:23:42 PM »
Hi All,
now I have found again the link to a cheap method to build
homemade solar cells:

http://www.mansolar.com/index.htm

As the summer comes now and the sun is shining again,
I will order all the chemicals to make such a homemade solar cell.

Also I will tryto modify these with my knowledge won in the
saltwater cells.

Have a look at the easy steps to make them here:


http://www.mansolar.com/make.htm

Needed is SnO2 for the conductive TCO layer and
TiO2 and some Bromberry juice( or different activator) and graphite.

One could make pretty large cells with this method !
Imagine 50x50 cm glasplates made by it.

Regards, Stefan.

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #1 on: June 04, 2005, 07:28:48 PM »
P.S: If someone finds the efficiency for these cells, please post it.

Is there still any other conductive transparent metallic material
other than SnO2 ?

One would just need a metal-transparent conductive layer combination,
that has a bandgap together such, that light can knock off electrons
and push them  up the bandgap.
How much eV ( electronVolts) does normal sunlight have ?

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #2 on: June 04, 2005, 08:38:29 PM »
http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/english.html


Here is another explanation how to do it.
Also checkout this additional tip:

soot coating as catalysator:
http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/phlab4.html

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2005, 10:20:03 PM »
Here is more about the Graetzel cell in German language:

http://www.science-forum.de/download/graetzelober.pdf
very good informations there.

One thing to enhance the cell would be to use just a graphite plate as one
electrode ! This would avoid the need of the tinoxid plated glas plate at one side
and the light would go twice through the cell, cause the graphite also
reflects the light !

Regards, Stefan.

AbbaRue

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #4 on: September 09, 2005, 04:39:25 AM »
A cheap way to make a solar cell is with copper foil. Cut to the size you want.
First clean the foil good with steal wool to remove any oxide.
You heat the foil over a propane torch until the opposite side of the foil has a black oxide coating on it.
Don't over heat or the oxide will be burned off too.
Once the whole side is coated with this black oxide. You cool the foil slowly by removing it gradually from the flame.
Then you use steal wool and rub the black oxide coating off revealing a "red cuprous oxide" coating.
Be careful not to scratch the red coating. This red coating is the solar cell material.
This red coating is the negative lead and the shinny copper side that the flame was on is the positive lead.
To get a better contact a wire mesh can be applied to the red coating, like metal fly screen.
or better would be to put a light silver or gold coating on the red coating.
But the silver or gold coating must be thin enough to be transparant. 
Another method would be to paint conducting lines on the red coating with conducting paint,
 like rear window defrost repair kits use. You could make a paint with Epoxy and graphite powder too.
Mix the graphite with the resin first to consistancy you want then add the hardener.

Another way to do it is to find a supplier of the  "red cuprous oxide powder" and apply this to copper foil.
Not sure how that is done, I just read in Japan someone was doing that.

 Me personally, I live in Canada, and I would just go to Canadian Tire and pick up a solar pannel for $35.
and use a large magnifying lens sold at business deput used for reading. And make a solar pannel that way.
Or make a large mirror array to concentrate the sun on the cell.
But if you  are interested in makeing your own cell, now you know how.
« Last Edit: September 09, 2005, 05:02:21 AM by AbbaRue »

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #5 on: September 09, 2005, 02:13:12 PM »
hi,thanks for posting this, but the problem is,that this copperoxid cell does not put out much energy...at least in the old article scitoys...Can somebody try it with real copperoxid put onto a copperplate ? Thanks, regards, Stefan.
P.S. posting this from my new pocket pc via wap2 interface login...great.

r8rchris

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #6 on: February 15, 2006, 06:42:26 PM »
Here is some info I came across on cheap and very simple plans(with plenty of room for personal improvements) for homemade solar cells

neutrino

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #7 on: February 15, 2006, 07:02:42 PM »
Build your own Cuprous oxide Solar Cell instructions:
The cell produces 50 microamps at 0.25 volts
Should be possible to improve drastically..!?

http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem3.html#flatpanel
http://www.scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #8 on: February 15, 2006, 07:23:14 PM »
Cuprous oxide solar cells are just too weak in output.
We need to design something like the screen printing with the CdS and Tellurium.
Maybe we still find better and cheaper and less toxic materials that
can be screen printed onto a glas surface.
The most important thing is to get a very small thickness P-N Layer somehow
in the uMeter range and graphite powder or plates  can be used as the backside electrode
for current output.
Regards, Stefan.

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #9 on: May 30, 2006, 08:33:10 PM »
Here is a very well documented video description
how to make a Graetzel cell from
conductive glas ( conductive indiumtinoxid (ITO) layer on the glas surface)
then put a paste of Titandioxide on it, heat it and
then put hibiskus tee or fresh blueberry or rasberry juice on it,
add some jod-Kaliumjodid electrolyte and have graphite as the other electrode
and you have a cheap solarcell...

http://www.hmi.de/it/zentral/multimedia/solar_energy/duenn_zellen/tee_film.html

I will try to modify this and make it even cheaper...
substitute the ITO layer just with graphite also and
just mix graphite with Titandioxid and heat it and then put rasberry juice in
it and use this in a saltwater cell with the other electrode as Zink-Alu alloy..
As electrolyte I would probably then also use this jod-Kaliumjodid solution.
This would have the advantage that you need no expensive ITO coating of the
glas and have very cheap material with which you can build pretty big solar cells.
also these might have then already a open circuit voltage of about 1 Volts
and not just 0.45 Volts as the Graetzel cell...

Regards, Stefan.

hartiberlin

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neutrino

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #11 on: November 25, 2006, 10:25:03 PM »
Efficiency for the TiO2 solar cell is 1 %
0,5V and 20A/m2, Power P = U x I = 0,5 x 20 = 10W/m2
2mA/cm2, 100 x 100 cm = 10000 cm2/m2, 2mA x 10000 cm2 = 20000mA/m2 = 20A/m2 (at full sun light)
Maximum practical power is 1000W/m2
Cell/Sun-Efficiency = 10W/1000W = 0,01, 0,01 x 100 (%) = 1%

http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/coatglas.html
http://www.solideas.com/papers/JCE98.pdf

Dingus Mungus

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #12 on: November 26, 2006, 05:23:11 AM »
Cuprous oxide solar cells are just too weak in output.
We need to design something like the screen printing with the CdS and Tellurium.
Maybe we still find better and cheaper and less toxic materials that
can be screen printed onto a glas surface.
The most important thing is to get a very small thickness P-N Layer somehow
in the uMeter range and graphite powder or plates  can be used as the backside electrode
for current output.
Regards, Stefan.

You can plate glass with most metals, but it will oxidize it in the process, its a process called glass fuming. If you melt a metal with a focused gas torch and aim the exhaust at preheated glass, the glass will obtain a thin transparent layer of fumed metal oxides in the glass. I hope this helps as I obtained this knowledge from an unrelated source, a guy I know blows glass and uses fuming to add unique color accents to his work.
 :)

hartiberlin

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #13 on: November 26, 2006, 05:37:35 AM »
I wonder, if conductive glass is at all needed ?

Maybe it would be okay to have a small silver mesh as the upper
electrode.

Also the titandioxid heating is energywise expensive or mass
production...
Maybe one could just use it all in a water bath,
put the Titandioxid with the Dye in a water bath
and put it into the sunlight and have a graphite plate as
one electrode and a silver electrode as the other electrode ?

Maybe this will work as well to generate electricity from sunlight ?

We really must find a very cheap process, where only
a few cheap substances must be put together in a non toxic way and will generate electricity then from light.

Then we can reach a breakthrough in solar power applications.
So if you create a galvanic cell and have the electrolyte light sensitive
it might just work ?
Maybe colloidal silver will also work, as it is very light sensitive.

We have to find a liquid electrolyte, which will
help the sun to break electrons free and jump the voltage gap  barrier
between the 2 electrodes !

Any ideas ?
Regards, Stefan.

neutrino

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Re: Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells
« Reply #14 on: April 24, 2007, 12:45:56 PM »
Progress on the TiO2 cell..!?
No figures of efficiency etc though.
Key factor: cost is one 10th of the price compared to silicon-based.

http://www.metaefficient.com/archives/renewable-power/innovative-solar-dyes-inexpensive-liquid-solar-power.html
http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/2007/Press_Releases/04-04-07.html