[Corvettaholic]

How do solar panels work? I know photons hit something and make something happen, but I have no idea what it is. My boss has chartered me to make him a solar powered laptop charger from scratch, cause he knows I like to invent things.

[Scratch-]

Heres a nice solar cell project:

http://scitoys.com/scitoys/scitoys/echem/echem2.html#solarcell

[Corvettaholic]

Very informative. So cuprous oxide is what you need that is photo sensitive, are there any good alternatives to that? It doesn't mention if density of the stuff matters, think it does? Cause I can bake copper sheets for a looooong time to get as much as I need.

[Scratch-]

The cuprous oxide forms into that other black oxide which is what you dont want, so if you want a better solar cell just use more sheets. I dont know what compounds are light sensitive like that but I'm sure there are more than one.

[Corvettaholic]

The amount of space it would take up would be ridiculous though. I could layer the sheets, the thing is that will block the sun... unless I use mirrors! Have one large opening into a box full of solar sheets, the whole doused in salt water, and focus light everywhere using mirrors. How does water affect light? I know it bends it, but will it screw up my plan?

[jdurg]

I know that selenium and selenium compounds tend to conduct electricity when they are exposed to light.  That's why they are used in photocopiers, motion detectors, etc. etc.

[Corvettaholic]

I'll have to look into selenium for cost and see how well it works as opposed to cuprous oxide. I've recently taken a great interest in "green" power generation, cheaply. Any good pointers on where I can find photovoltaic info about it?

[Donaldson Tan]

Unless we have v efficieint solar panels, i think solar powered laptops are still distant from reality. Solar powered PDAs are definitely much more viable given its much lower power consumption & the outdoor nature of its usage. Who would want to use a laptop in the hot sun?

[gregpawin]

There are plenty of commercial packages that recharge  your laptop battery using solar energy... in fact I remember seeing one sold about 5 years ago.  They also have solar panels for your dashboard to continuously recharge your car battery, if you have some kind of unknown drain on it.

[Corvettaholic]

I was thinking of getting my "solar box" project going (as opposed to the bigger power plant idea, boxes are cheaper) and charging some deep cycle batteries. That way, I could use those for stereo power for night time parties.