
New Instructables Books for 2013
Souped Up: Projects to Make Everything Better [Book]
Backyard Rockets Book on Sale Now
Awesome Discounts for Pro Members
JUNE 2013 Build Night - 3D Printing with 123D & Tinkercad
Instructables Build Night w/ Bare Conductive @ Noisebridge
Embed a 3D viewer in your Instructable
Maker Faire 2013 Slide Show!
Fried Contest Launches 5/13, HQ Celebrates with Fried Day Friday
MEH! :D A Build Night at Montana Ethical Hackerspace!


PDF Downloads
As a Pro member, you will gain access to download any Instructable in the PDF format.
You also have the ability to customize your PDF download.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FrdUlPM4x0Y&feature=related
This is a basic setup for a basic solar cell and it's a good walk through for the basic process.
After you watch the vid, there's ways that you can change the basic idea.
For instance, if you use polyaniline, instead of indium-tin-oxide, you can drop the price of making the solar cell by alot.
Wiki Polyaniline if you're not familar with it as a material. it's interesting, and can be made in small quantities with materials from the hardware store.
After that... I will say that the bottom panel can be opaque, which might open up some materials as options for future developement by DIYers (*cough* aluminum foil or aluminated mylar *cough*).
Indium-tin-oxide is expensive, and using a less expensive substrate to produce the solar cell drops cost by alot.
After dropping the cost, i'd focus on increasing efficiency.
The best idea i've seen involving increased efficiency involves consideration that the thin layers of material are still 3 dimensional, even though we, on a large scale, only think of them as two dimension (that is, people who design solar panels think of the solar collector as a plane having only x and y coordinates, and the not as a cubed object.).
Prisms, crystal structure, and composite materials are all facets that can come into play, when you start looking at on this level.
I'm kind a saving up so i can buy some Bizmuth... i'm pretty sure some of it's electronic characteristics can greatly increase solar panel efficiency.
...
..
.
Blasted educational connection, slow as cold tar
.
..
...
Damn it, I can see the link but it won't open!
Google scitoys solar to find it.
Um...do this!http://sci-toys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html#solarcell
i hope this works!!