Solar Energy
This post acted as a scientific journal into my research and attempt to generate clean energy from solar cells.
Introduction:
The solar cell has been around for centuries ever since the discovery of the Photo-Electric Effect by Albert Einstein, which won him the noble pieces prize. To put it in a normal term, the Photo-Electric Effect explained that light is a particle and it can knock the electron off an atom. As a result, silicon, a semiconductor on the solar cell, can produce a potential difference when it is exposed to light. However, it can also work in reverse. Such that, when it is given potential difference, it will give off light (not very bright Light). So, we say that solar cell is an LED and LED is a solar cell. It just a matter of efficiency in its function.
A single solar cell does not produce a very high voltage ( I'm using 0.4v cell ), so you might need to connect a bunch of them in series (to add up the voltage) and parallel (to add up the current). As a result, you have a solar panel like the commercial one. That is not it, you will need a solar controller (pwm, mppt...), Batteries, a power inverter, and other components (cable, fuse, breaker...).
A solar panel can be quite expensive depending on its work done, but solar cells are not. Apparently, Chines companies are able to mass-produce them at a very low price for us sciences geek. So, my attempt is to create solar panels and build the system. However, I will buy other necessary parts(the solar cell, solar controller, battery, the power inverter...) locally and online.
