Solar cells have always seemed a little magical to me. I don't really understand how they are made except for that is is a big industrial process. I have asked people who seem to know and been told there is no way to build one yourself(the cell not just the housing). However I just happened to find this video that shows you how to build one using using donut powder (little scary to think huh?) and tea:
Also see: http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/03/how-to/how-to-make-your-own-solar-cell and http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/english.html
Now we are not talking about lots of electricity or high efficiency but it still seems like a very cool project. Only issue is they just pass over this whole conductive glass thing like you can pick it up at the corner store. Luckily there is another video on how to make conductive glass using toothpaste (maybe it counteracts the donut powder?).
Seems like it would be a fun project to build one, just to see how much power we get from it.
3 comments
JR,
JR,
Very interesting. Off the shelf PV is very expensive and energy intensive to manufacture and only about 13% efficient max ...thats usually why building owners always run the numbers but wussy out when its time to pull the trigger. I've read about processes in which the photovoltaics are "printed" onto sheets of thin aluminum instead of laminated within glass (far less embodied energy) but haven't followed up on their efficiency. I've REALLY been interested to see what kind of juice a Stirling engine and parabolic reflector might generate but can't quite get my head around how to design a solar tracking system that doesn't expend the energy generated (except maybe a manually driven machine such as a wind up device with escapement or counterweight driven.) Check out New Haven's solar paths; link below.
http://www.makehaven.org/discussion?place=topic%2Fnew-haven-hacker-space...
I'm in!!!
I'm in!!!
Do we have access to the 266 roof?
I got a chance to work on
I got a chance to work on these kinds of solar cells (dye sensitized) at UConn last year. It was a very cool project. Unlike silicon photovoltaic cells, you can make them by hand. If you wanted to do this I'll be happy to give you some pointers. But without a breakthrough in science/engineering, the low budget version will not be useful except as a science demo/fun.
The reason the donut works is that they put TiO2 (titanium dioxide) in the sugar to make it whiter. The TiO2 (a semiconductor) is usually a main ingredient, along with a ridiculously expensive organic dye. As you replace these components with cheaper stuff, the power efficiency will drop. So this home made cell will be far short of the the 5+% efficiency these cells are capable of. The conductive (FTO) glass was not too expensive I believe.
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