How to Build Solar Panels

Industrial Solar Panels

With the increasing shortage of fossil fuels, many people are beginning to look for alternative fuel sources. The greatest source of fuel mankind has ever known will always be the sun. If every atomic weapon in the world were to be detonated at once, the resulting collective explosion would create less than a thousandth of the energy the sun produces every second. For that reason it seems evident that solar energy is our best chance at solving out planet's energy crisis. It is perfectly possible for a person to create their own photo voltaic cells, otherwise known as solar panels. Now the ones which any ordinary person can make are not nearly as powerful as those which are made from silicon. But they work on the same principals and should prove useful in increasing awareness and understanding regarding solar energy. This is a guide on how to make your own solar panels.

Things You'll Need

• Two 1/2 Square Foot Sheets of Copper Flashing
• Two Alligator Clip Leads.
• Micro-Ammeter
• An Electric Stove Burner or Hot Plate
• Large Clear Plastic Bottle or A Large Mason Jar
• Table salt.
• Tap water
• Sand paper
• Tongs
• Paper Towels or Sponge
• Towel

Instructions

Building Your Own Solar Panels

1. Use the sandpaper to scour clean every portion of the copper of one of the sheets. There can be absolutely no corrosion on the copper for this procedure. Then wash the copper sheeting with soap, water, and either paper towels or a sponge. You can't let oil from your hands get on the copper.

2. Towel the copper dry, taking care not to touch it directly. Use your tongs to place the copper on the hot plate. Turn the hotplate on as hot as it will go.

3. Cook the copper at red hot heats for half an hour. A thick black layer of oxides should form on the copper's surface. Make sure not to leave the copper unattended while it cooks.

4. The oxide layer and the copper underneath cool at different speeds, causing the two to separate. This can be violent and send hot cupric oxide flying, so be careful no to get to close or leave anything particularly flammable nearby. it should take another twenty minutes to cool to room temperature.

5. Wash the copper carefully in plain water. This is just to get most of the black pieces off, what we need to stay on the metal is the red layer of cuprous oxide that is formed beneath the layer of cupric oxide.

6. Take the cooked copper sheet and the uncooked sheet and fit them into the plastic bottle, bend each outward so absolutely no part of the two sheets touch each other.

7. Clip one of the alligator leads to the tops of each of the sheets and connect them to your meter. The positive terminal of the meter should connect to the uncooked sheet. The negative terminal should connect to the cooked sheet.

8. Dissolve a couple of tablespoons of salt into a few cups of water. Pour it into the plastic bottle so the water level is about an inch short of the sheets' tops.

9. Place the bottle out in the sunlight and watch the meter. It should steadily rise to as much as fifty micro-amps. Put the bottle in the shade and the meter should drop to less than ten. You've made your own solar cell. Congrats!

Tips & Warnings

• This works because the two sheets of copper have developed an electrical instability. The cupric oxide is a negatively charged molecule while the plain copper is a positively charged molecule. It should be noted that each of these materials is an electrical conductor in its own right, which combined with the saltwater creates the perfect condition for an electrical exchange. The addition of solar energy is sufficient to get the negatively charged cupric oxide to lose its extra electrons. These electrons are attracted to the positively charged copper, and the movement as they travel between the two metal sheets is what is called electrical current.

• If you use an indoor stove burner for this, make sure to keep the windows open because it will generate smoke and a very acrid odor.

• If oil from your hands get on the copper sheet, or the copper sheet has no been scoured clean it will catch fire.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish
• A Good Article Explaining How Solar Panels Work