Make A Silicon Solar Cell

It is a form of photoelectric cell defined as a device whose electrical characteristics such as current voltage or resistance vary when exposed to light.

Make a silicon solar cell.

At this point the silicon is still not pure enough to be used for solor cells and. These homemade solar cells are just meant to demonstrate how a solar cell can convert solar energy into electricity. Polycrystalline silicon is used in an attempt to cut man ufacturing costs although the resulting cells aren t as efficient as single crystal silicon. Keep in mind that commercial solar panels use silicon for the solar cells so the ones you make in this experiment are not the same as commercial grade cells.

To make solar cells the raw materials silicon dioxide of either quartzite gravel or crushed quartz are first placed into an electric arc furnace where a carbon arc is applied to release the oxygen. The products are carbon dioxide and molten silicon. Crystalline silicon cells are further categorized as either monocrystalline silicon cells that offer high efficiencies 13 19 but are more difficult to manufacture or polycrystalline also called multicrystalline silicon cells that have lower. We will admit that it is unlikely you have enough gear in your basement to make a solar cell using these steps.

The majority of residential solar modules consist of pv cells made from either crystalline silicon cells or thin film semiconductor material. However it is interesting to see how a bare silicon wafer becomes a solar cell. While they also tend to. Individual solar cell devices are often the.

To understand this better let s see the different types of semiconductor material as the materials extensively used in the production of solar cells are semiconductors. For example single crystal silicon isn t the only material used in pv cells. A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is an electrical device that converts the energy of light directly into electricity by the photovoltaic effect which is a physical and chemical phenomenon.