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Author Topic: Finally : cheap DIY selfmade solar cell with common materials !  (Read 207047 times)

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #120 on: August 04, 2009, 08:26:18 AM »
Here is my Solar Cell Concept.

Jerry ;)

Hi Jerry,
can you post more?
Did you already build them or is this only an idea ?

Many thanks.

onthecuttingedge2005

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #121 on: August 04, 2009, 08:59:53 AM »
Hi Jerry,
can you post more?
Did you already build them or is this only an idea ?

Many thanks.

Hi hartiberlin.

there are many things that need to be accomplished first, all I care about right now is that all the polluting power sources are disolved if by chance by replacing old tech with new green tech.

if I get some money I will start doing some very hard research on the future of power harnessing to help the Earth. but I am a poor soul right now.

Jerry :)

ResinRat2

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #122 on: August 27, 2009, 04:12:31 PM »
I have begun testing an experimental solar-tube type design that I dreamed up. It consists of a sheet of ordinary writing paper that has been painted on one side with high-conductive carbon pigment dispersed in low-odor mineral spirits. This was allowed to dry and the paper folded into a tube shape with the carbon pigment on the inside. The bottom of the tube was not painted so there was a couple inch gap of non-painted surface.

Inserted through the bottom of the tube is another piece of paper folded into a cone shape and covered on its surface with normal aluminum foil. The idea is that the aluminum and carbon black surfaces do not come in contact with each other so they are electrically isolated.

Sunlight enters the tube at the top, strikes the aluminum cone surface and ejects an electron from the metal surface (ionization energy of aluminum) which is deflected sideways (due to the cone shape) and strikes the carbon black inside surface of the tube.

By using a voltage meter I placed one probe against the inside carbon black surface of the tube and the other probe in contact with the bottom aluminum surface of the cone. The idea is that the ejected electrons would flow the circuit from carbon black back to the aluminum metal.

I am getting erratic readings right now when the tube is pointed toward the overhead fluorescent lights, some as high as 0.6 volts. Who knows, maybe I am just picking up RF.

Today we will have rotten weather with rain and clouds. So I need to do outdoor testing later. Below is a drawing to give a picture of the unit. I think a larger unit might be worth looking at. I am also thinking the tube may need to be vacuum-sealed so there is no interference with the ejected electrons; but this is just a first prototype. When I get home from work this evening I will post some pictures.

I am posting this just for anyone’s interest.
« Last Edit: August 27, 2009, 05:25:25 PM by ResinRat2 »

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #123 on: August 27, 2009, 06:41:18 PM »
Hi ResinRat2,
what is the ionisation energy level for Aluminium ?
I guess the sun will just reflect from the aluminium and
not pop some electrons out of the foil.

ALso if you have a bit moisture inside your air
a high ohmic digital multimeter will just measure
0.6 Volts between the graphite and the alufoil.
Just wet fingertouches are enough between your
"nonconductive" paper to cause this.

If you try it with a lower impedance analog meter you
will probably measure no voltage...or much less.

Also the electrons will not just fly through the air a few inches to
go to the graphite paper..
When you would need vaccuum it will get again too expensive..

I guess the best way would be to find cheap materials that have the
right ionisation energy level to sunlight and have them sprayed or
painted onto graphite paper and then use a transparent conductive electrode
layer to paint over it.
The question is
what is the best and cheapest transparent conductive electrode layer that can
be easily selfmade.


Have a look at these 2 artificial Leaf videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6XqEsutcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l6-N0ba7jg

onthecuttingedge2005

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #124 on: August 27, 2009, 06:46:46 PM »
Hi ResinRat2.

Nice idea about the design, it reminds me of the Rods and Cones in the eye somewhat.

If you really wanted to play around with flexible solar cells you can use transparent contact paper as a work bench for your conductors and dried photoreactive chemicals, when completed you would have a somewhat transparent flexible solar cell, to get some ideas on developing flex type there are some videos on youtube that show how some are made with a machine.

I think clear Contact paper will make a good work bench for home solar tech and one side is very very sticky and it is dirt cheap.

if I had some old printer cartridges laying around I might see about using some conductive inks for conductive pathways that way I could just print my pathways with a computer printer onto the surface. just an idea.

Jerry ;)

ResinRat2

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #125 on: August 27, 2009, 07:28:56 PM »
Hi ResinRat2,
what is the ionisation energy level for Aluminium ?

listed here: http://www.lenntech.com/Periodic-chart-elements/Al-en.htm

The value is given as: 577.4 kJ.mol -1


I guess the sun will just reflect from the aluminium and
not pop some electrons out of the foil.

ALso if you have a bit moisture inside your air
a high ohmic digital multimeter will just measure
0.6 Volts between the graphite and the alufoil.
Just wet fingertouches are enough between your
"nonconductive" paper to cause this.

If you try it with a lower impedance analog meter you
will probably measure no voltage...or much less.

It does seem strange that my reading is 0.6 V as you say. Perhaps it is moisture.

Also the electrons will not just fly through the air a few inches to
go to the graphite paper..
When you would need vaccuum it will get again too expensive..

Actually, I got the idea from a Physical Chemistry Answer manual that showed a drawing of a device used to measure ionization energy of a metal that was a cylinder with the metal at the bottom that reflected a laser beam into the cylinder walls. The metal was not cone shaped but the cylinder was in a vacuum. So I think the electrons may fly a short distance. I have no idea how far. Maybe it would be better to have this filled with a liquid medium to transport the electrons like the Gratzyl cell. Maybe iodine or chlorine bleach. I need to think about this.


I guess the best way would be to find cheap materials that have the
right ionisation energy level to sunlight and have them sprayed or
painted onto graphite paper and then use a transparent conductive electrode
layer to paint over it.
The question is
what is the best and cheapest transparent conductive electrode layer that can
be easily selfmade.


Have a look at these 2 artificial Leaf videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ6XqEsutcM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0l6-N0ba7jg

Thanks for the input Stefan. I need to consider this a bit and do a few more experiments.

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #126 on: August 27, 2009, 07:51:48 PM »
listed here: http://www.lenntech.com/Periodic-chart-elements/Al-en.htm

The value is given as: 577.4 kJ.mol -1

How many electronVolts are this ?
Does sunlight have enough energy to ionize some outer shell electrons
from the Aluminium foil ?

Quote

It does seem strange that my reading is 0.6 V as you say. Perhaps it is moisture.

I once had a graphite cylinder in a plastic 1 cm isolated to a metal
rod with no water in there and the moisture from the air on the plastic
already was enough to have a galvanic action from this "electrolyte moisture" and display around 0.6 Volts
on my digital voltmeter...so it was just a basic galvanical cell.

In solar cell research you have to see, if it is all not just galvanical actions
which consumes electrodes... sometimes these effects also mix,
so some effect is solar conversion and some is galvanic,
if you don´t choose the electrodes right...or use water based solutions
with it.

Good luck in your experiments.

Regards, Stefan.

ResinRat2

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #127 on: August 27, 2009, 10:28:51 PM »

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #128 on: August 27, 2009, 10:39:19 PM »
Hi,
I found it:

http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclopedia/B/AE_band_gap.html

Band gaps and solar cells

To free an electron, the energy of a photon must be at least as great as the band gap energy. However, photons with more energy than the band gap energy will expend that extra amount as heat when freeing electrons. So, it's important for a solar cell to be "tuned" – through slight modifications to the silicon's molecular structure – to optimize the photon energy. A key to obtaining an efficient solar cell is to convert as much sunlight as possible into electricity.

Crystalline silicon has a band gap energy of 1.1 electron-volts (eV). (An electron-volt is equal to the energy gained by an electron when it passes through a potential of 1 volt in a vacuum.) The band gap energies of other effective photovoltaic semiconductors range from 1.0 to 1.6 eV. In this range, electrons can be freed without creating extra heat.

The photon energy of light varies according to the different wavelengths of the light.

The entire spectrum of sunlight, from infrared to ultraviolet, covers a range of about 0.5 eV to about 2.9 eV. For example, red light has an energy of about 1.7 eV, and blue light has an energy of about 2.7 eV. Most solar cells cannot use about 55% of the energy of sunlight, because this energy is either below the bandgap of the material or carries excess energy.

============

So it is important to have a material that has the same
bandgap as in the range of the sunlight.

So 5.986 eV from Aluminium is much too high.
You would not loose any electrons just with sunlight.

You need a material that is in the 1.5 eV range about for
good conversion.

Can you please lookup which materials are in this range ?

Many thanks.

infringer

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #129 on: August 28, 2009, 01:41:19 AM »
New product worth checking into for this project!

Wire glue

This is a new conductive glue that can be used in place of soldering...

Check for it at think geek.

ResinRat2

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #130 on: August 28, 2009, 02:18:11 AM »
Thanks for your comments everyone.

Stefan, I went back and rechecked the unit, being careful this time not to touch the ends of the probes or contact the carbon black pigment or aluminum foil with anything other than the probes of the voltage-meter. It read zero volts. Even up close to the light, I still had no voltage reading, so what you suggested must have been correct. I had a false reading due to contact with probably moisture and my skin surface.

So the only light that might shake loose an electron from foil would be in the ultra-violet range.

Oh well, back to the drawing board.

I do like the idea of conductive glue though. Thanks Infringer, I will get some.

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #131 on: October 10, 2009, 01:50:01 AM »
Here is another good video how to make a dye sensitive solar cell
using blackberry juice and Titandioxid all  with a step by step explanation:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17SsOKEN5dE

Now we only need to find a cheaper solution for the ITO conductive coated glas.

Regards, Stefan.

hartiberlin

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #132 on: October 10, 2009, 02:25:45 AM »
Here is another good video showing it all step by step.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qbsl1NP5uZI

This time vinegar is used for the TIO2 paste,
but it needs much more heating, so using nitric acid for the TIO2 paste is probably
much less energy expensive in the production process..

Kator01

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Re: Finally : cheap selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #133 on: October 10, 2009, 03:27:46 PM »
Hi Resinrat2,

here are some good data and explanations :

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/Tables/photoelec.html
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/mod1.html#c3
http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/HBASE/mod1.html#c5

looks like workfuction equals first ionisation energy-level

Regards

kator01

jeanna

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Re: Finally : cheap DIY selfmade solar cell with common materials !
« Reply #134 on: October 23, 2009, 07:53:49 PM »
This guy has taken the PAL design 100 steps along.
It is still the same design but have a look. It is very clean... also green.
He seems to have a canadian accent.
I have not been to his website yet... I just came here first.
Please have a look.

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=796_1256162545

jeanna

I just went there and here is a pic with price. It sounds like a lot, but in the Northeast USA where it is often bitter cold and sunny, it would pay for itself in a year or 2.