Homemade Solar Cell Using Household Items (update)

Question: can someone make a solar cell at home using household items?

Answer: yes you can using some very unusual items that are found around the house.

Solar panels are great for producing clean electricity, the only problem is the cost to buy one can be in the thousands, and the cheaper ones barely produce any electricity. Today I will be showing you how to build your own solar cells at home using some interesting materials that you can get from your local store or on the internet.

The solar cell that I made produces about 1volt, with 2 of these you could be able to light an LED, and with 5 you could even charge your device, I mean how cool is that. The glass that I used to make this was from an old microscope that I had that came with some glass slides that came with the kit. If you decide that you want to make this you don't have to use glass slides, any size piece of glass work just for larger pieces you may need to take some wire and lay it across the panel to cover more surface area, the bigger the cell the more electricity it will produce.

For the best result make sure that you clean the foil off, along with the glass to ensure that the chemicals can make good contact with the foil, and to ensure that light can pass through the glass. The aluminum foil I found can rip easily so for my next one I will use two strips of aluminum from a pop can after sanding the paint off, these new connections would be stronger so be white to use pop can strips instead of aluminum foil.

Step 1:

Here's what you will need to make this:

• Two aluminum strips or noncoated copper wire(don't use foil, use a pop can)
• Glue
• Scotch tape
• A bowl (for holding juice)
• Two pieces of glass the same size(I used slides)
• Blueberries or BlackBerries 
• SPF 90 Sunscreen(TiO2, titanium dioxide)
• A tea candle 
• A cup
• A coffee filter
• Iodine

Step 2:

Start by glueing the copper wire or the aluminum strips to each of the glass slides.

Step 3:

Next you should take your bowl and fill it with your berries.

Step 4:

Squish up the berries so the juice is free to be filtered.

Step 5:

Filter out the juice from the pulp. Anthocynin is the pigment that is extracted during this process.

Step 6:

Empty out the bowl and poor the filtered liquid into the bowl.

Step 7:

When your done with the juice set it aside to be used later. Then take one of the slides and tape the edges.

Step 8:

Generously apply the sunscreen to the slide.

Step 9:

Use a round object to smooth out the sun screen.

Step 10:

Remove the tape, and let it dry for 15 minutes.

Step 11:

Take your slide and set it in the juice for another 15 minutes.

Step 12:

While the first slide is soaking take your other slide and hold it over the lit tea candle with the side with the foil down. What you will see is the glass will start to turn black, this is carbon being deposited on the slide. Do this until you can't see through the glass any more.

Step 13:

When the slide is done soaking remove it and wipe the extra juice off with a q'tip.

Step 14:

Take the slide that was soaking in the juice put 4 drops of iodine on it 

Step 15:

Take the carbon coated slide and set it on top of slide with the iodine on it, then take some paper clips and put them on the two slides assigned in the photo.

Step 16:

Take some scotch tape and cut it into three very thin pieces. Put one on each end and one in the middle to hold the slides together.

Step 17:

How does it work? Simple the titanium dioxide reacts with blueberry juice to form a semiconductive material when the semiconductor is hit by ambient light it excites the electrons in the carbon and iodine atoms causing them to move in one direction creating current. If you took multiples of these and soldered them in series it would increase the voltage by one volt each time, if you made larger ones of these it would also increase the voltage by 0.5v with every square Inch

Conclusion: I found that the solar cell I made produced one volt, if you like this then favorite it, and if you want to see many more things like this then be sure to follow me. If you made this yourself then I want to see it, leave a photo in the comments below. For all my followers I say thank you for the support. Don't forget to vote for me in the scientific method contest, the gadget hacking contest, and the green electronics contest thank you.