How To Build Solar Cell Yourself

Solar energy is a sustainable energy. The concept of attaining energy as a fuel from sun is not new but in this age the demand of solar energy is increasing. The level of greenhouse gases has been increased to a dangerous level. But the high price of solar cells does not encouraging the people to replace their fuel source.

Experiments are carrying out to build cheaper solar cells at private level. There are different experiment you may confuse as to which should be followed. For this you may need to have a technical knowledge otherwise do not try to build your own solar cells yourself. It can be dangerous and the waste of time.

Homeopathic / Printing Technique

Most of the experiments are electrical and need one ready-made solar cell for the panel base. Very little information is there about how to make solar cell at home and cheaper as well. The method which I am going to describe is very interesting and easy to build up if you are consistent and have electrical base. I name it as homeopathic technique because it can be prepared at home level and even if you don’t have enough technical information. Only the steps should be followed in sequence.

First of all note the ingredients and collect them all in enough quantity. You can take the guideline from a chemical person about the quantity because there is no specific information.   

1. Two glass / plastic slides of equal size
2. Titanium
3. SnO2
4. Iodine solution
5. Lead pencil
6. Blackberries
7. Pomegranate seeds
8. Clips

Now follow the procedure as mentioned below.
First of all take two slides glass or plastic; one is coated SnO2 and the other is with Titanium oxide. Now dyed the titanium oxide coated glass slide with pomegranate seeds and blackberries. Do not remove the slide and remain it dip in this solution till it dyes from front and back sides. Room temperature is suitable to dry it. This slide will act as negative electrode. After it dries start the next step.

The second step is to make counter / positive electrode. SnO2 Nano-crystalline coated glass slide will be prepared as positive or counter electrode.  It is a thermal insulator very effective for absorbing sunlight. Check the conductive side of the slide with ohm meter and marked the non-conductive side as positive (+).  The other side of the slide will be colored. Lead pencil is used to color it. Further dip this slide into iodine solution to give it the property of electrolyte. The solar cell is in its complete form and the color of lead pencil is also strengthening now. Apply iodine solution on the colored side which is conductive and upwardly placed on the table.

It is time to check the electrodes to know the positive and negative charge sides. Display the slides so that sunlight directly falls on it. It will help you to test the solar cells positive and negative electrodes. Use the clips to join both electrodes.

Place this solar cell where sunlight falls directly on it will give approximately 0.5 V – 1mA / cm2. You can categorize this technique as a plastic printing method.

It is a general concept that solar cells are very expensive which is to some extent true. But with the continuous experiments scientists are struggling hard to find cheaper ways of developing solar cells to generate solar energy.