Solar Panel Out of CD

Disk and Diode

By:

Joseph Pendon

Rafael Valiente

Yochanan Bangoy
 Chapter I

Background of the Study

Electricity is the most versatile and easily controlled form of energy. At the point of use it is

practically loss-free and essentially non-polluting. At the point of generation it can be produced

clean with entirely renewable methods, such as wind, water and sunlight. Electricity is

weightless, easier to transport and distribute, and it represents the most efficient way of

consuming energy. Electrification conversion from using another form of energy to using

electricity is a central tool. An essential strategy for meeting the energy challenge is to

concentrate on the generation and use of electricity. A two-pronged approach is required. But

sometimes the power that we generate isn’t enough for the people living in one nation producing

an energy crisis. An energy crisis is any significant bottleneck in the supply of energy resources

to an economy. In popular literature, it often refers to one of the energy sources used at a certain

time and place, in particular those that supply national electricity grids or those used as fuel in

vehicles. Among the new energy sources, solar energy is extremely promising because of the

direct conversion of sunlight into electricity. The energy obtained by burning fossil fuel over the

whole human history is less than the energy received by the earth from the sun. But here in the

Philippines, not all people can afford to get electric circuit all around their house especially those

people that doesn’t have a stable job and insufficient funds. Because we are living in a tropical

country we need to take advantage the sunlight to turn into useable energy. And because we are
exposed to the sun we can turn it’s light into electricity. With an affordable and easy way that

can harvest and store the energy so that it can be used even without the sun.
Statement of the Problem

1. Will the solar panel produce electricity?

2. How will it produce electricity?

3. Will the produce electricity enough to light a small light?

Statement of the Hypothesis

1. Yes, it will produce electricity because of the diode getting the sunlight

2. It will be possible due to Photoelectric Effect

3. Yes, we believe that it is enough to power a small light

Significance of the Study

The product of this study gives us an idea on a cheap and ecofriendly solar panel that can

be used to combat the use of fossil fuels, only if we can improve our product.

Scope and Limitations

This study will focus on developing a cheap and affordable solar panel using only diodes

and a CD disk.

Definition of Terms

Photoelectric Effect- is the emission of electrons or other free carriers when light shines on a

material. Electrons emitted in this manner can be called photo electrons.

Review of Related Literature

Compound multijunction solar cells enable ultrahigh efficiency performance in designs where

subcells with high material quality and high internal quantum efficiency can be employed.

However the optimal multijunction cell bandgap sequence cannot be achieved using lattice-

matched compound semiconductor materials. Most current compound semiconductor solar cell

design approaches are focused on either latticematched designs or metamorphic growth (i.e.,

growth with dislocations to accommodate subcell lattice mismatch), which inevitably results in

less design flexibility or lower material quality than is desirable. An alternative approach is to

employ direct bonded interconnects between subcells of a multijunction cell, which enables

dislocation-free active regions by confining the defect network needed for lattice mismatch

accommodation to tunnel junction interfaces. We fabricated for the first time a direct-bond

interconnected multijunction solar cell, a two-terminal monolithic GaAs/InGaAs dual-junction

cell, to demonstrate a proof-ofprinciple for the viability of direct wafer bonding for solar cell

applications. The bonded interface is a metal-free n+ GaAs/n+ InP tunnel junction with highly

conductive Ohmic contact suitable for solar cell applications overcoming the 4% lattice

mismatch. The quantum efficiency spectrum for the bonded cell was quite similar to that for each

of unbonded GaAs and InGaAs subcells. The bonded dual-junction cell open-circuit voltage was

equal to the sum of the unbonded subcell open-circuit voltages, which indicates that the bonding

process does not degrade the cell material quality since any generated crystal defects that act as

recombination centers would reduce the open-circuit voltage. Also, the ix bonded interface has

no significant carrier recombination rate to reduce the open circuit voltage. Such a wafer bonding
approach can also be applied to other photovoltaic heterojunctions where lattice mismatch

accommodation is also a challenge, such as the InGaP/GaAs/InGaAsP/InGaAs four-junction

tandem cell by bonding a GaAs-based lattice-matched InGaP/GaAs subcell to an InP-based

lattice-matched InGaAsP/InGaAs subcell. Simple considerations suggest that for such a cell the

currently-reported interfacial resistance of 0.12 Ohm-cm2 would result in a negligible decrease

in overall cell efficiency of ~0.02%, under 1-sun illumination. Engineered substrates consisting

of thin films of InP on Si handle substrates (InP/Si substrates or epitaxial templates) have the

potential to significantly reduce the cost and weight of compound semiconductor solar cells

relative to those fabricated on bulk InP substrates. InGaAs solar cells on InP have superior

performance to Ge cells at photon energies greater than 0.7 eV and the current record efficiency

cell for 1 sun illumination was achieved using an InGaP/GaAs/InGaAs triple junction cell design

with an InGaAs bottom cell. Thermophotovoltaic (TPV) cells from the InGaAsP-family of III-V

materials grown epitaxially on InP substrates would also benefit from such an InP/Si substrate.

Additionally, a proposed four-junction solar cell fabricated by joining subcells of InGaAs and

InGaAsP grown on InP with subcells of GaAs and AlInGaP grown on GaAs through a wafer-

bonded interconnect would enable the independent selection of the subcell band gaps from well

developed materials grown on lattice matched substrates. Substitution of InP/Si substrates for

bulk InP in the fabrication of such a four-junction solar cell could x significantly reduce the

substrate cost since the current prices for commercial InP substrates are much higher than those

for Si substrates by two orders of magnitude. Direct heteroepitaxial growth of InP thin films on

Si substrates has not produced the low dislocation-density high quality layers required for active

InGaAs/InP in optoelectronic devices due to the ~8% lattice mismatch between InP and Si. We

successfully fabricated InP/Si substrates by He implantation of InP prior to bonding to a

exfoliated InP films was only 900 nm, which means hundreds of the InP/Si substrates could be

prepared from a single InP wafer in principle. The photovoltaic current-voltage characteristics of

the In0.53Ga0.47As cells fabricated on the wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates were comparable to

those synthesized on commercially available epiready InP substrates, and had a ~20% higher

short-circuit current which we attribute to the high reflectivity of the InP/SiO2/Si bonding

interface. This work provides an initial demonstration of wafer-bonded InP/Si substrates as an

alternative to bulk InP substrates for solar cell applications. Metallic nanostructures can

manipulate light paths by surface plasmons and can dramatically increase the optical path length

in thin active photovoltaic layers to enhance photon absorption. This effect has potential for cost

and weight reduction with thinned layers and also for efficiency enhancement associated with

increased carrier excitation level in the absorber layer. We have observed photocurrent

enhancements up to 260% at 900 nm for a GaAs cell with a dense array of Ag nanoparticles with

150 nm diameter and 20 nm height deposited xi through porous alumina membranes by thermal

evaporation on top of the cell, relative to reference GaAs cells with no metal nanoparticle array.

This dramatic photocurrent enhancement is attributed to the effect of metal nanoparticles to

scatter the incident light into photovoltaic layers with a wide range of angles to increase the

optical path length in the absorber layer. GaAs solar cells with metallic structures at the bottom

of the photovoltaic active layers, not only at the top, using semiconductor-metal direct bonding

have been fabricated. These metallic back structures could incouple the incident light into

surface plasmon mode propagating at the semiconductor/metal interface to increase the optical

path, as well as simply act as back reflector, and we have observed significantly increased short-

circuit current relative to reference cells without these metal components.

Materials

1. 3pcs. Zener Diode

2. CD Disk

3. Copper Wire

4. Plastic Battery Cradle

5. Batteries

6. Soldering Iron

Methodology

The first thing is to prepare all the material needed to make the product, the second thing

is to cut and fold the copper wires into six folds then glue them to the CD disk with a small space

between them, after that solder the diode between the two copper wires, do it until no more space

is available. But do put a diode on the last space instead, connect two wires on the copper wires.

To store the energy you need to put a battery to the battery cradle and connect the wire to the

solar panel, negative to negative and positive to positive. Then just simply let the solar panel get

exposed to the sunlight.

Results and Discussions

The solar panel was only able to generate 100-180 millivolts depending on how strong

the heat is. This is still not enough to light a LED hence, not even close. But the real kicker is

that it was able to store a small amount of energy to a battery which is very surprising

considering that it only generated millivolts but the downside is that it will take too long to store

1 volt in a battery.

The result of this study is between disappointing and not disappointing because it was not

able to generate volts but the ability to store the energy is the thing that amazed us.
 Chapter V

Conclusion

This study is in the middle of good and bad. The product was successful but we feel that

there is a missing “thing” to our study that left us unsatisfied. For instance, the product was able

to generate energy but it only generated around 100-180 millivolts which is a small amount. But

to store energy is the best part which left us shocked because we thought It was impossible. But

the downside is that we didn’t reached our main goal to light a LED considering that it only

generated 100-180 millivolts because there is only three diodes in the solar panel. Which left us

to think that the diodes cause the electricity because it is a semiconductor. Which lefts us in one

thing. The more volt you apply the more energy will be generated.
 Chapter VI

Recommendation

For the future of this study we recommend for the future researchers is that the more

voltage the solar panel can generate the faster it can store energy to the battery. So this means

that the more diodes or more solar panel can generate more energy which means it can store

energy much faster and efficient.