Homemade solar cells (Screen printing)

[Mike Gibson]

I found this on the otherpower forum I got it to down load. What i am asking is in anyone knows of these chemicals and if they would make any power once made. The chemicals arn't that expencive but i would not like to waste my time or money on some thing does not work.

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5708/solarcellplans.pdf

[Rob Beckers]

Hi Mike,

This sounds intriguing! Unfortunately my Acrobat Reader crashes every single time when I try to view that PDF you link to. What chemicals do they use? What's the efficiency of these cells? Last but not least, how stable are they? Meaning that if the light sensitive compound breaks down quickly it won't be very useful.

-Rob-

[Mike Gibson]

The compounds are as follows Cadmium Sulphide, Cadmium Chloride, Propylene Glycol and Tellurium. As for the efficience and stadilty i have know idea. I am trying to get ahold of the High Scool science teacher to see if she knows any thing about these compounds. The link is very hard to download i had to try several times to get it to work. If you like i can Email the book to you.

[Joe Blake]

Hi Mike,

This sounds intriguing! Unfortunately my Acrobat Reader crashes every single time when I try to view that PDF you link to.

-Rob-

I've been having similar problems. I got round it by downloading the document to my hard drive and then opening Acrobat Reader that way.

Joe

[Rob Beckers]

Thanks Joe!
That did indeed solve the Acrobat crashes.

Looks like it's not quite a step-by-step manual for cells, there's still quite a bit "left as an exercise to the reader" to figure out. Could be fun to try some of the recipes though! (Just be aware that some of the listed chemicals are rather toxic/nasty!)

The Japanese patent that is referred to can be accessed and downloaded directly from (amongst others) Google: http://www.google.com/patents?id=6SYeAAAAEBAJ&dq=5538903. That will give you a somewhat less annotated copy than the one in the article.

-Rob-

[Patrick Trogothzon]

I found this on the otherpower forum I got it to down load.

http://www.otherpower.com/images/scimages/5708/solarcellplans.pdf

Hi!

That link appears to be broken... :(

If anyone finds a good link, SHOUT!:D

/P

[Makinde Moses]

The compounds are as follows Cadmium Sulphide, Cadmium Chloride, Propylene Glycol and Tellurium. As for the efficience and stadilty i have know idea. I am trying to get ahold of the High Scool science teacher to see if she knows any thing about these compounds. The link is very hard to download i had to try several times to get it to work. If you like i can Email the book to you.
Please I am Makinde Moses, I will like you to Please e-mail the e-book to me

[Rob Beckers]

Makinde, you may want to send a PM (=Private Message) to Mike. I'm not sure how often he checks back at the forum, so he may otherwise not see your request.

To send a PM, go to one of his posts, right click on his name (on the left side, in blue) and a menu will pop up. One of the options in that menu is to send a PM. The majority of members have their options set in such a way that a PM will trigger an E-mail to them, so they get notified even if they don't check back at the forum regularly.

-RoB-

[Stellar Gellar]

what's the success rate of doing homemade solar cells?

[Rob Beckers]

It would be nice if people posted back on how projects like these ended. If it worked, how it was done etc... :idea:

-RoB-

[Kevin Daye Cincinnati]

Does anyone know if there are any videos on how to make solar cells by screen printing?
Thank you,
Kevin

[Allan Adams]

Hey, one can generate electric power from a potato. These may be fun experiments, but any serious alternative power projects are going to not only require commercial cells, but the best you can find. Assembling a panel from quality cells is essential to any project being lasting and efficient. The reality is that a reduction of efficiency means a bigger footprint and the solar footprint is its biggest con. Add to that, it is just too darn tedious to assemble a panel not to invest in the best where cells are concerned. Rather than getting around the purchase of cells that are not all that expensive anyway when balanced against the alternative (and a tax write off) the breakthrough for me would be some interlocking system that eliminated the soldering assembly step. A plug and play cell with the smallest footprint possible would be better than screen printing. The reduction of labor cost from the end panel would make solar very affordable. This is VERY possible. It could be in the form of cells that fit together like puzzle pieces or pinned cells that fit to standard voltage “bread board” type assemblies of standard size that themselves fit together to form anywhere from a, say, eighteen inch square trickle charger to an assembly large enough to run a small business. A manufacturing method could be devised to merely add efficient and dependable locking connector pins to cells presently on the market. The panel could be surface coated with a thick layer of low melting point thermal plastic that would conform to the delicate cells over time when exposed to the hot sun once a protective cover of plastic or plate glass is installed for protection. It is an idea just waiting with baited breath for an entrepreneur to become a millionaire behind.

[Kevin Daye Cincinnati]

Do you have ant good website for those kind of cells?

Thanks
Kevin

[Allan Adams]

As far as I know they do not exist. I am involved in experimentation to see how feasible it would be to create them as a cottage industry but have not gotten far enough to say it is workable on a large scale. I am working with some rather cheap end 3” by 6” cells and can produce a twenty watt panel fairly economically. More wattage would require a better set up for mass production than I have come up with. My hope is to seed the idea so that others will play with it and maybe come up with better than I have. My system involves a “breadboard” type design and it does have dependability issues. One is working with such small amperages per cell that it is not difficult to come up with bad connections short of a soldering. My thinking is that a wet conductor might be a solution… something that can be painted onto the pin connections to enhance the conductivity at that juncture. Also, the connector pin and sockets I am using are surplus and I have not found anything readily available that could substitute. They are fairly substantial and the pins are tinned copper pressed to almost sheared through that come on long tightly rolled strips. The strip breaks apart into over 80 pins about 1.5 inches long ~ the width of the roll. I make each pin at least .5 inches for ample contact. They look to be very economically produced and yet substantial enough to provide a good connection ALMOST every time. The back plane that each cell is attached to to make it pluggable is acrylic sheet that I get for free from sign company and plastics distributer dumbsters. Haven't attempted it yet, but it might be feasable to seal each cell in this free acrylic sheet, making them replacable in the case of individual failure. This could make this concept fly. It would be lots cheaper to replace a cell than a panel. In addition, hail can break a large sheet but is not likely to break a piece of acrylic even 6 inches by 6 inches.

[Allan Adams]

Just occurred to me that perhaps the conductivity problem might be solvable by using two "breadboard" sheets that can then be cam locked against each other in a shearing motion. The pin holes could be conductive and the sheet non conducting with screen printed circuits. Each pluggable cell could drop freely into the pin socket holes and then one sheet shifted relative to the other by a cam lock mechanism to lock all pins and cells into place after assembly. Larger panels could cam lock in segments.

[Christian Fox]

I think we always encourage new technique.If we want to make path for new invention then we have to try newer things.