Solar Energy Diagram

How to Build a Solar Panel at Home: The first thing of the process is cutting a square of the copper sheet which is about 6-8 square inch in dimension. To make this part of the job easier, I suggest you use a metal guillotine. This will definitely provide you ease in cutting that metal sheet. However, if you don’t have this type of tool, tin snips can still do the job.
The next step is to remove grease and oil from your hands by washing them thoroughly and drying them. It is also important that the copper sheet is free of grease and dirt. Having ensured this, remove the top layer of the oxidized copper by sanding it with a piece of emery cloth. This process will render your copper sheet bright and shiny red underneath.

The third part of the process is heating treat the copper so that an oxide coating on top will be formed. You may find this ironic because in the previous step, you were told to remove the oxide. Nonetheless, this process will involve a different kind of oxide which is “cuprous oxide” which will come from a film. In order to do this, the burner must be set to its highest flame and temperature. Then the copper sheet must be placed on top of the flame where it will start to change its color.

After the color display wears off, you will observe that a black crusty oxide has formed on top of the copper plate. Once you leave the copper plate to cool naturally, the crusty oxide layer will slowly separate from the copper beneath it. If the copper plate has totally cooled down, bang it on a hard surface. Remove the clinging oxide from the sheet by rubbing it with your fingers. If it’s hard to remove, never attempt to scour it because it might damage the fragile surface.

When all the oxide has been removed, you will find a surface with a reddish-orange-rust shade. It is from this photosensitive layer that you will make a thin-film solar cell. Using some strips of thin wood, make a spacer. Make sure not to use any metal objects for they can react electrolytically with the other parts of the solar cell.

The next step is to make another electrode. Make sure that it doesn’t have components that will be in contact with the other parts of the solar cell or that will block the light from hitting the surface. In this case, you will use salt water. This will come in contact with the rest of the copper sheet while it conducts electricity. Proceeding to the next part of the process, you will immerse the copper wire to establish the connection.

Sticking the other electrode wire to the Perspex is the next part of the process. Do this by using a duct tape on either side.

Combining the electrode plate and the space with the use of the duct tape is the next step.
You take the copper plate, place the duct tape with the sticky part facing the direction of the surface of the red copper oxide. Fuse the plate and front module to have an assembled solar cell. Then , put some salt water to fill the empty space between the front part of the Perspex and the copper plate. Ensure that there will be no leakage by sealing it round with duct tape.

Lastly, discover what your solar cell can do by connecting it to a multimeter and exposing it to a bright light source!

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