How to make solar cells (DIY/homemade solar cell)
June 14th, 2010
This shows how to make and test a solar cell using a sheet of copper. These solar cells are basically sheets of copper with a layer of cuprous oxide (Cu2O) on them. The cuprous oxide is a semiconductor. You won’t get much electricity from it but it’s fun to make! More details can be found at rimstar.org – rimstar.org
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theres 3 minutes of my life ill never get back omg
i bet u stole that idea from that electrochemistry website:)
Not their website specifically but their content. It seems to have been copied by folks to enrich their own websites. Of course it’s a very old idea so they stole it too
. I was actually unsuccessfully trying to may cuprous oxide diodes and decided to see if I could at least get a cuprous oxide solar cell to work. Then, since I didn’t see any videos of the process around (that weren’t made from snapshots taken from the electrochemistry website) I figured I’d record it and let others see.
You may want to PLANT these two copper plates in the ground (no need for oxde coating). Youmay get from that enough electricity to light a few led lights.
Research “Stubblefield” in google if you feel like it.
It’s been a while since I’ve read anything on what Stubblefield did. I’ll have a look again.
other than using it for teaching, I see no practical purpose especially with the corrosion from the salt water.
nice kitchen
im just joking:)
Agreed, unless I can get a cuprous oxide diode to work.
Can you tell I tried to keep from showing as much of it as possible?
thank you!
You’re welcome!
I thought about doing this same experiment myself until I learned that the power output is so small. But thanks for doing this to show others what it’s about and to help teach some of the basic theory of solar energy.
@field16 You’re welcome. Coincidentally I’m back at trying to make cuprous oxide diodes so if that works this time I may place it in the sun to see what happens – though that’s not the reason for making the diode (that’s for the testatika stuff in the non-conventional energy section on my website.)
@RimstarOrg So your video experiment also showed us how easy it is to make Cuprous Oxide, which you could also use for other applications, like diodes. I would like to see how you make your own diodes. Good idea. If you put an RSS feed on your website, I would subscribe to it.
@field16 To make cuprous oxide diodes, see here hpfriedrichs period com. I recently found that page and read his great book too (Instruments of Amplification.) So far it’s harder to do than it looks. Re the RSS, it’s just a question of finding the time.
@RimstarOrg That’s an interesting website. Will come back to it again. I have a radio license, so I’m interested in the radio stuff on his site, too. I understand about the time issue.
amazing! hope to see more…thank you so much!
@hall274 Thanks! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
umm….solar cells are made with two layers doped silicon. Even if that works, that’s not really considered a solar cell. plus i think you just made a salt water battery, other wise known as a coin battery.
@09robinsona Look up “Solar Cell” on wikipedia and you’ll see there are more types of solar cells than just silicon. Cuprous oxide isn’t used these days due to it’s extremely low efficiency but it does work. It was one of the first materials to demonstrate the photoelectric effect. Search google for “cuprous oxide solar cell”. As for a coin battery, I think you need two different metals.
would it work if you put a wire connecting the 2 panels instead of salt water
@8giorgos8 It can be done without the salt water but it’s very difficult. You also wouldn’t need two panels, only one. One wire would be soldered to the copper itself. The other wire would be in good physical contact with the outer surface of the cuprous oxide – doing that is the hard part. For an example, google “Fun With Homebrew Cuprous Oxide Diodes” and on the first page that comes up, search that page for the word photovoltaic.