Solar panel flexible
Transparency 12x20cm
Copper sheet foil
Doped silicon solvent
Fevicol
Rubbing alcohol
Ear bud
Cut the copper strips 6x0.5cm
Clean the strips with alcohol
Fold the transparency sheet into 12x10cm
Open the fold
Stick the strips alternately extending
Attach the side strips
Apply doped silicon with ear bud in the gaps
Close the cover
Solder wire to contacts
Place in sunlight
Test with multimeter
Gives up-to 3V
Pattern
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+ -
Solar cell
Glass slides 2
Fluoride doped tin oxide
Titanium dioxide
ruthenium-polypyridyl dye
Solvent
Iodide electrolyte
The solar cell has 3 primary parts. On top is a transparent anode made of fluoride-doped tin dioxide (SnO2:F) deposited on the back of a (typically glass) plate. On the back of this conductive plate is a thin layer of titanium dioxide (TiO2), which forms into a highly porous structure with an extremely high surface area. The (TiO2) is chemically bound by a process called sintering. TiO2 only absorbs a small fraction of the solar photons (those in the UV). The plate is then immersed in a mixture of a photosensitive ruthenium-polypyridyl dye (also called molecular sensitizers) and a solvent. After soaking the film in the dye solution, a thin layer of the dye is left covalently bonded to the surface of the TiO2. The bond is either an ester, chelating, or bidentate bridging linkage.
A separate plate is then made with a thin layer of the iodide electrolyte spread over a conductive sheet, typically platinum metal. The two plates are then joined and sealed together to prevent the electrolyte from leaking.
Organic solar cell
Three Parts:Coating the Glass PlatesAssembling the Solar
CellActivating and Testing the Solar CellSolar cells convert the sun's energy
into electricity, similar to the way plants convert the sun's energy into food
through photosynthesis. Solar cells work by using the sun's energy to enable
electrons in semiconducting materials to move from orbits close to the nuclei
of their atoms to higher orbits where they can conduct electricity. Commercial
solar cells use silicon as the semiconductor, but here is a way to make a solar
cell with more accessible materials to see for yourself how it works.
Coating the Glass Plates
Obtain 2 equal-sized glass plates. Plates of the size used
as covers for microscope slides would be ideal.
Clean both surfaces of the plates with alcohol. Once the
plates are cleaned, handle them only by the edges.
Test the plate faces for conductivity. Do this by touching
the surfaces with the leads from a multimeter. Once you have established which
side of each plate is the conductive side, place them side by side, one plate
conductive side up and the other conductive side down.
Apply transparent tape to the plates. This will hold the
plates in place for the next step.
Place the tape
along either of the long side of the plates to overlap 1 millimeter (1/25 inch)
of the edges.
Place tape
over the outer 4 to 5 millimeters (1/5 inch) of the conductive side up plate.
Apply a solution of
titanium dioxide to the plates. Put 2 drops on the conductive side up plate,
then spread it evenly over the plate surface. Allow the titanium dioxide to
cover the conductive-side-down plate.
Before
applying the titanium dioxide solution, you may first want to coat the plates with
tin oxide.
Remove the tape and separate the plates. Now you'll treat
the 2 plates differently.
Place the
conductive-side-up plate on an electric hot plate overnight to bake the
titanium dioxide onto the plate.
Clean the
titanium dioxide off the conductive-side-down plate and place it where it won't
collect dirt.
Prepare a shallow
dish filled with dye. The dye can be made from raspberry, blackberry or
pomegranate juice or by brewing a tea from red hibiscus petals.
Soak the titanium-dioxide-coated plate, coated side down, in
the dye for 10 minutes.
Clean the other plate with alcohol. Do this while the
titanium dioxide-coated plate is soakiRetest the cleaned plate to find its
conductive side. Mark the side that doesn't conduct with a plus sign (+). Apply
a thin carbon coating to the conductive side of the cleaned plate. You can do this
by going over the conductive side with a pencil or by applying a graphite lubricant.
Cover the entire surface.Take the titanium-dioxide-coated plate out of the dye.
Rinse it twice, first with de-ionized water and then with alcohol. Blot dry
after rinsing with a clean tissue.
Assembling the Solar Cell
Place the carbon-coated plate onto the titanium-dioxide
plate so the coatings touch. The plates should be slightly offset, about 5
millimeters (1/5 inch). Use binder clips on the long edges to hold them in
place.
Apply 2 drops of an iodide solution to the exposed coating.
Let the solution soak through the plate coatings so they're covered completely.
You may want to open the binder clips and gently lift 1 of the plates up to
allow the solution to spread over the entire surface.
The iodide
solution will enable electrons to flow from the titanium-dioxide-coated plate
to the carbon-coated plate when the cell is exposed to a light source. Such a
solution is called an electrolyte. Wipe excess solution off the exposed
portions of the plates.
Activating and Testing the Solar Cell
Attach an alligator
clip to the exposed coated sections on either side of the solar cell.
Connect the black
wire of the multimeter to the clip connected to the exposed titanium dioxide
coating. This plate is the solar cell's negative electrode, or cathode.
Connect the red wire
of the multimeter to the clip connected to the exposed carbon coating. This
plate is the solar cell's positive electrode, or anode. (In a previous step,
you marked it with a plus sign on its non-conductive side.)
Place the solar cell
next to a light source, with the negative electrode facing the source. In a
school classroom, this can be done by laying the cell on top of the lens of an
overhead projector. In a home setting, another light source, such as a
spotlight or the sun itself, can be substituted.
Measure
the current and voltage generated by the solar cell with the multimeter. Do
this both before and after the cell is exposed to light.
This is great, I did not know we could make a solar cell at home so easily!
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