Cheap and easy to build homemade solar cells

[hartiberlin]

Here are more infos to the easy to build Graetzel cell:

http://www.mansolar.com/function.htm
http://www.mansolar.com/bauen.htm
http://www.hmi.de/it/zentral/multimedia/solar_energy/duenn_zellen/tee_funktion.html

[neutrino]

Efficiency for the TiO2 solar cell is 1 %
0,5V and 20A/m2, Power P = U x I = 0,5 x 20 = 10W/m2
2mA/cm2, 100 x 100 cm = 10000 cm2/m2, 2mA x 10000 cm2 = 20000mA/m2 = 20A/m2 (at full sun light)
Maximum practical power is 1000W/m2
Cell/Sun-Efficiency = 10W/1000W = 0,01, 0,01 x 100 (%) = 1%

http://www.solideas.com/solrcell/coatglas.html
http://www.solideas.com/papers/JCE98.pdf

[Dingus Mungus]

Cuprous oxide solar cells are just too weak in output.
We need to design something like the screen printing with the CdS and Tellurium.
Maybe we still find better and cheaper and less toxic materials that
can be screen printed onto a glas surface.
The most important thing is to get a very small thickness P-N Layer somehow
in the uMeter range and graphite powder or plates  can be used as the backside electrode
for current output.
Regards, Stefan.

You can plate glass with most metals, but it will oxidize it in the process, its a process called glass fuming. If you melt a metal with a focused gas torch and aim the exhaust at preheated glass, the glass will obtain a thin transparent layer of fumed metal oxides in the glass. I hope this helps as I obtained this knowledge from an unrelated source, a guy I know blows glass and uses fuming to add unique color accents to his work.

[hartiberlin]

I wonder, if conductive glass is at all needed ?

Maybe it would be okay to have a small silver mesh as the upper
electrode.

Also the titandioxid heating is energywise expensive or mass
production...
Maybe one could just use it all in a water bath,
put the Titandioxid with the Dye in a water bath
and put it into the sunlight and have a graphite plate as
one electrode and a silver electrode as the other electrode ?

Maybe this will work as well to generate electricity from sunlight ?

We really must find a very cheap process, where only
a few cheap substances must be put together in a non toxic way and will generate electricity then from light.

Then we can reach a breakthrough in solar power applications.
So if you create a galvanic cell and have the electrolyte light sensitive
it might just work ?
Maybe colloidal silver will also work, as it is very light sensitive.

We have to find a liquid electrolyte, which will
help the sun to break electrons free and jump the voltage gap  barrier
between the 2 electrodes !

Any ideas ?
Regards, Stefan.

[neutrino]

Progress on the TiO2 cell..!?
No figures of efficiency etc though.
Key factor: cost is one 10th of the price compared to silicon-based.

http://www.metaefficient.com/archives/renewable-power/innovative-solar-dyes-inexpensive-liquid-solar-power.html
http://masseynews.massey.ac.nz/2007/Press_Releases/04-04-07.html