Q&A for How to Make Solar Cell in Home

In terms of cost per watt, the cheapest known way is to buy a ready made solar cell. The one shown here is interesting, but due to the fact that conductive glass is NOT a cheap product - and it produces (according to the photo), a shade under 120 microamps, output is tiny. I do not know the voltage produced - though I would guess between 0.6v and around 1.2v - so the total generated power would be in the order of 72 microwatts and 144 microwatts. To put that into perspective, if we allow the more generous of the two figures above and then round the power up to 150 microwatts, we would still need 20,000 panels to produce enough power to drive a 3w LED lamp.

Teas contain organic compounds known as anthocyanins. These compounds are good at capturing light in the visible spectrum

Copper sheets are available via traders selling nonferrous metals in any major city. These traders supply metals to metal industries. For further information, search "nonferrous metals traders" in search engines in your location.

I'm not certain about the voltage, but it will be DC. I'd guess between 1 to 2 volts.

No, you cannot use sugar. It is the white color of the donut coating that you want to extract. The sugar is the waste you need to remove to get the pure titanium dioxide. Powdered sugar contains no titanium dioxide.

Both Sears' (tool dept.) & Radio Shack usually offer a decent selection. Sears is usually more expensive but better quality. Radio Shack may offer a less expensive, but still effective, analog meter. In the past 30 years, I've purchased several good auto-ranging digital multi-meters from Sears. "Auto-Ranging" means that the meter selects the right voltage range (so you don't "smoke" it by trying to read too high a voltage for its voltage range setting). I also bought a nice, reasonably priced analog meter at Radio Shack when the project required an analog meter (there are a few things a digital meter can't do but an analog meter can).

About $200, depending where you buy the materials. I bought mine at Walmart and it was about $170, and I got some conductive glass on Amazon for about $50.

No. The glass is used so that the solar rays can be captured as they pass through the glass. Solar panels capture the photons in light rays for energy, rather than the heat generated by said energy source. And while a copper sheet would be more conductive, it is flimsier than the glass backing, therefore reducing the structural integrity of the solar cell. There are other factors that may make it a bad idea as well, such as the heat generated by the heated metal sheet (solar panels and cells already get extremely warm), etc.

The best way to connect wire is with a soldering iron, or even some special glue that has electricity conductive adhesive. If you don't want to go through all the trouble though, simply twist the wire together and cover it with hot glue or wrap it in electrical tape.