Making a solar panel from a copper sheet?

[BilljustBill]

Awhile back, I remember seeing a topic on the Net about using a solid copper sheet that had been treated with a chemical on the sun's side to make it become a solar cell/panel.

Could you help me understand what this is, how limited it might be, or the possibility of it working? I have found several copper sheets and some tempered glass sheets, so those costs are zero at the point.

Thank you for your insight and experience.

Bill

[Jason]

Hi Bill,

Thanks for joining Solar Panel Talk to ask your question.

I'm going to move your thread into the "do it yourself" forum for others to learn from your question.

[Mike90250]

I've seen that too, and even a large one, only produces a very small amount of power.

http://www.thesolarplan.com/articles/your-own-solar-panel-collector.html

only usefull for powering the micro amp meter

excerpt from the end:
A note about power

The cell produces 50 microamps at 0.25 volts.
This is 0.0000125 watts (12.5 microwatts).
Don't expect to light light bulbs or charge batteries with this device. It can be used as a light detector or light meter, but it would take acres of them to power your house.

The 0.0000125 watts (12.5 microwatts) is for a 0.01 square meter cell, or 1.25 milliwatts per square meter. To light a 100 watt light bulb, it would take 80 square meters of cuprous oxide for the sunlit side, and 80 square meters of copper for the dark electrode.

To run a 1,000 watt stove, you would need 800 square meters of cuprous oxide, and another 800 square meters of plain copper, or 1,600 square meters all together. If this were to form the roof of a home, each home would be 30 meters long and 30 meters wide, assuming all they needed electricity for was one stove.

There are 17,222 square feet in 1,600 square meters. If copper sheeting costs $5 per square foot, the copper alone would cost $86,110.00 USD. Making it one tenth the thickness can bring this down to $8,611.00. Since you are buying in bulk, you might get it for half that, or about $4,300.00.

If you used silicon solar panels costing $4 per watt, you could run the same stove for $4,000.00. But the panels would only be about 10 square meters.

Or, for about a dollar, you can build a solar stove out of aluminum foil and cardboard. For about $20, you can build a very nice polished aluminum parabolic solar cooker.

[BilljustBill]

Thank you

Fellows, thank you for your help.

With all the data you've provided, it sounds like rubbing my feet across the carpeting in the Winter would give as much power as the treated copper sheet experimental cell/panel.... ;>)

The tempered glass I have is double pane and sealed around the edges in a stainless steel frame. Would you venture a guess as to its ability to let sunlight pass?

I have four of those and they are actually identical to the glass freezer doors your local grocery store uses in their vertical freezers. They are unblimished and even have the heater core around their edge to prevent fogging/frost when used as a freezer door. Would you think that this type of glass would be better suited for making solar air heaters instead of PV panels?

Thanks you again for help,
Bill

[Mike90250]

Would you think that this type of glass would be better suited for making solar air heaters instead of PV panels?

YES, thermal Tempered glass for air heater is perfect.