How to Build a Home Made Solar Panel

Once you have gathered all the materials for making a solar panel, you have to cut the copper sheet that is about the same size at that of the burner. Prior to heating this sheet, you have to wash it so as to remove sulphides or any corrosion. It is best to use sand paper to remove all this.

Now place the sheet over the burner and let it heat. On heating it for a prolonged time, it becomes red and eventually turns black. This is because of the black cupric oxide coat. The black coating thickens on further heating. Now allow it to cool down slowly. The copper shrinks as it cools down and so does the cupric oxide layer on it. This layer then tends to flake off easily. After cooling down just wash off the extra flakes but do not scrub them off.

Now you have to cut a similar sized sheet and bend these in a way that they fit inside the jar without touching each other. Attach the two alligator clips to each of the sheet. The lead from the clean copper plate should be connected to the positive terminal of the meter and lead from the cuprous oxide plate should be connected to the negative terminal.

Mix 3-4 tablespoons of salt in tap water and stir it nicely until the salt dissolves. Carefully pour this mixture in the jar. See that the leads do not get wet. Also about an inch of plates should be left out of water. This way you will be able to carry the solar cells around the house without wetting the leads.

A solar cell in the dark will also show some current. However, as soon as you transfer it out into sunshine, its capacity will jump. This is because cuprous oxide is a semiconductor in which there is a band-gap between the electrons that are bind with the atom and the ones that are away from it. In sunlight the electrons in the cuprous oxide gain energy and jump out of the band-gap. They are then free to conduct electricity. When leads are attached to them, electricity is generated.