A solar cell is a device that converts energy from the sun into electricity. Solar panels bought in stores require special cleaning and a lot of money.
Necessary
copper sheet, two clamps, sensitive microammeter, electric stove, cut-off plastic bottle, two tablespoons of salt, plain water, drill, sheet metal
Instructions
Step 1
Cut off a piece of copper so that it is about the size of an electric stove. Wash your hands to avoid greasy stains on the fabric. Wash the copper sheet with detergent to remove various stains from it. Use an abrasive brush or sandpaper to remove the copper oxide layer. Place a clean copper sheet on a hot plate and turn it on at full blast.
Step 2
When the copper starts to heat up, you will see red-orange spots on the surface. When it gets even hotter, the spots will turn black. All colors will disappear when the spiral turns red. And when the burner starts to glow, a sheet of copper will be covered with black copper oxide. Let it cook for half an hour to thicken the black coating. It is important to do this, as the thick coating will peel off easily, while the thin coating will stick to the copper and remain.
Step 3
After half an hour, turn off the burner, leave hot copper on it so that it slowly cools. Do not cool the copper too quickly, otherwise a black oxide film will adhere to the copper. Copper shrinks due to cooling. And copper oxide also goes through it. But they shrink at different rates, which forces the black copper oxide to flake off. After a while, large pieces will begin to fall off. After about twenty minutes, the copper has cooled to room temperature and most of the black oxide film is gone.
Step 4
Clean the copper with your hands under running water. This procedure will remove most of the small pieces. Do not pick off stubborn stains. Do not bend the sheet, otherwise you may damage the thin layer of copper oxide that you need.
Step 5
Cut the second copper sheet to the size of the first (heated). Bend both parts very carefully, in this position they should go into the plastic bottle without touching each other.
Step 6
Attach the clamps to both plates. To the plus, connect the wire from pure copper, and to the minus - the wire from the plate with oxide. Mix two tablespoons of salt with a little hot tap water. Pour the resulting mixture into a bottle. The battery is ready!
