Do it yourself, At home solar panel. Any thoughts on my idea?

Thread Starter

zakamadeus

Joined Sep 1, 2016
9
I have not constructed yet but intend to in the near future.

Start with two copper sheets of metal (possibly one of them magnesium or aluminum) heat both with blowtorch until oxidized then splash with vinegar on both sides.
Mix black paint with magnetic powder (making ferrofluid). paint one side of each metal sheet.
Take paper towel and soak with alum and another with borax (most absorbent paper towels available.). Dry with hairdryer or heat gun and allow to cool.
Place paper towels (dry) on the not painted side of the metal sheets.
Put activated carbon in blender and layer one of the paper towels atop the sheet metal with the ground carbon. place other metal sheet with paper towel atop the one with the carbon sandwiching it in the middle (boron paper towel above the alum paper towel.)
Make wood frame around the sandwiched sheets placing glass on either side of the sandwich encasing it. (Possibly doping the inside of each glass with the top one being gallium (p-type) and the bottom one being phosphatase (n-type).)
Place one layer of graphene on top (outside of sandwich) to collect charge from raindrops.
After setting solar panel to appropriate angle attach a gutter on the lower edge to collect rain water sending it to a collection barrel. Having glass on the bottom side enables double sided solar panel. could possibly put mirror on ground facing up under the panel to help reflection and a fresnel lense slightly above top facing glass to magnify light beaming down. attach a fog collection mesh (as pictured bellow) atop the raised edge of the solar panel leading to drip on the solar panel. I give you the rain/fog collecting solar panel that gathers electric charge from rain.
 

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Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
I know the first Solar panels used red copper oxide, but that was 100 years ago or more.

While I'm sure what you are thinking of making will generate voltage (due to the chemical nature more of a battery than a solar cell), how much current it can produce per square meter is the real question. You will probably need far to much surface area per watt of power to make it economically feasible.

If you really want to create your own solar panels I suggest you buy bare cells and connection supply to build your own. Most people that go this route save about 50% over the cost of OEM built panels AND you will get a usable amount of power from just one or two assembled panels.
 

Thread Starter

zakamadeus

Joined Sep 1, 2016
9
I know the first Solar panels used red copper oxide, but that was 100 years ago or more.

While I'm sure what you are thinking of making will generate voltage (due to the chemical nature more of a battery than a solar cell), how much current it can produce per square meter is the real question. You will probably need far to much surface area per watt of power to make it economically feasible.

If you really want to create your own solar panels I suggest you buy bare cells and connection supply to build your own. Most people that go this route save about 50% over the cost of OEM built panels AND you will get a usable amount of power from just one or two assembled panels.
any thoughts on replacing the copper with something other than silica that needs to be cooked at like 1000 degrees? nikola tesla seemed to have high voltage with copper. i don't see why we cant adding his equipment to raise the power.
 

nsaspook

Joined Aug 27, 2009
13,079
This concept sounds quite daft.
:eek:
http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html
A note about power
The cell produces 50 microamps at 0.25 volts.
This is 0.0000125 watts (12.5 microwatts).
Don't expect to light light bulbs or charge batteries with this device. It can be used as a light detector or light meter, but it would take acres of them to power your house.

The 0.0000125 watts (12.5 microwatts) is for a 0.01 square meter cell, or 1.25 milliwatts per square meter. To light a 100 watt light bulb, it would take 80,000 square meters of cuprous oxide for the sunlit side, and 80,000 square meters of copper for the dark electrode. To run a 1,000 watt stove, you would need 800,000 square meters of cuprous oxide, and another 800,000 square meters of plain copper, or 1,600,000 square meters all together. If this were to form the roof of a home, each home would be 282 meters long and 282 meters wide, assuming all they needed electricity for was one stove.

There are 17,222,256.7 square feet in 1,600,000 square meters. If copper sheeting costs $5 per square foot, the copper alone would cost $86,110,283.50 USD. Making it one tenth the thickness can bring this down to $8,611,028.35. Since you are buying in bulk, you might get it for half that, or about $4,300,000.00.

If you used silicon solar panels costing $4 per watt, you could run the same stove for $4,000.00. But the panels would only be about 10 square meters.

Or, for about a dollar, you can build a solar stove out of aluminum foil and cardboard. For about $20, you can build a very nice polished aluminum parabolic solar cooker.
 

Kermit2

Joined Feb 5, 2010
4,162
One weird trick the power companies don't want you to know. Watch our video before we are forced to take it down.

I am starting to think this whole thread is based on info from a click bait promo link at the bottom of a Web page. :)
 
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