I found a great tutorial on the net on how to make a solar cell using a copper sheet and some materials that you can easily find around the house.
The only hi-tech tool you’ll need for this endeavor is a micro-ammeter. The rest are fairly common, like a cooking stove, insulated copper wires, used water bottles, salt, metal cutting tools (or you can just bend the copper plate to shape and remove excess pieces.) and water.
The amount of electricity you will be generating from this solar cell will be in micro currents (hence the micro-ammeter). Not enough to power a light bulb or other portable home appliance but good enough as a light detector.
So what’s the benefit of this tutorial? I see it as a great way to teach students in high school lab classes how to build their own solar panels. Who knows? maybe exposure to an experiment like this could spark the interest of the next generation of renewable energy scientists.
Specifically those that could take solar panel technology to the next level. Like in developing technology that could harness energy from the sun more sustainably. Current solar cell panels are built from materials that are considered as a finite resource.
Check out the tutorial here and here.
Category: Solar, Clean Energy, Do it Yourself
