A solar panel is an array of solar cells. And the solar cell is a device that converts energy radiated by the Sun, in the form of small bundles of light called photons, into electricity. This occurs on the exposure of silicon cells present in the panel to sunlight. The metal surface of the panel release electrons when the highly energetic photon particles or positively charged particles strike it. This process is called as excitation. And these electrons then constitute the electric current. These are all the basics and definitions behind the solar panel theory. But not complicated to build one if you wish to. You don’t have to bother about these definitions or reactions which take place on panel, you just have to follow some easy steps and you can build solar panels at home.
To begin with you don’t need to be an expert, but capable to use some basic tools like a screw driver and should know to tighten the nuts. And hopefully majority of people can do that. You can make a cheap solar panel for your home or even for your work station in an easy way. Cheap doesn’t point to the fact that you don’t have to spend a penny, but you can make it as per your wish and as per your budget. And effectively it will show the results later on its use, when your electricity bills will fall down.
There will be some main material that you will be requiring to build solar panels at home. To form a structural unit or basic module, you will need a 6”×6” copper sheet. Further you should have some heating facility like a burner, an ammeter of the range of 10µAa to 50µA, some container like a bottle with open round neck, an electric drill, sand paper, any cutting tool like a scissors for metals or electric cutter, some salt – about 10g and common water. If you are done with gathering of materials required then you can begin with the procedure.
First of all cut the copper sheet with a shear available and cut it of the size of burner you have. Now you can use a sandpaper to clean off the copper sheet cut. If found greasy, then do clean it with any chemical to get rid of oils on the surface. Now if the sheet is clean and neutral physically then put it on a high flame on the burner. Let the sheet get red hot. When attained take it away from the flame and form a layer of cupric oxide on its surface. You can do it with any tool available. After that put the sheet back on flame until you will observe the cupric oxide has formed a joint layer with the metal sheet and a thick layer of the compound. As soon as you will observe its occurrence, just take off the sheet and let it cool down. After its cool enough to touch, then take a scrubber and scrub it gently. This will give it a finish with quality. Now take a copper sheet of the same size as before and bend both to fit in a container available. Then get some clips and wiring to form nodes as anode and cathode. And connect with the ammeter you have. Now mix the salt with some water and pour the concentration into the container. You are done.
Now relax back and wait for micro ammeter to detect electric current. When detected, you can connect the wire ends with any electric device you have. But this one cell won’t be enough to do a job for you. So you have to prepare many of them to form a series and extract a useful amount of current from it. This is how you can build solar panels at home and save your electricity bills.

