1. Cut two 4"x3" squares of copper flashing with tin snips or metal shears. Wash the copper thoroughly to remove any dirt or oil deposits. Take some fine grained sandpaper and rub one piece of copper on both sides until it has a bright sheen.
2. Put that piece of copper aside and take the other piece and lay it across one of the electric burners of your stove. Turn the burner to high and leave the copper piece on the burner until the top of the piece has a thick layer of material on it. This layer is called cupric oxidization and it will take 30 to 60 minutes to form. Turn the burner off and let the piece of copper cool.
3. Wash the piece of copper gently under running water. This will remove a lot of the cupric oxide particles. Don't scrub or bend the copper since that can damage the bottom layer of cuprous oxide, which you want to stay intact.
4. Gently bend both pieces of copper so they fit inside a jar, touching the jar sides. You want to keep the pieces of copper from touching one another. Keep the side with the cuprous oxide facing inwards.
5. Clip an alligator lead to the top of each piece of copper. Connect the lead to the negative terminal of the ammeter and then to the cuprous oxide copper piece. Connect the lead from the clean piece of copper to the positive terminal of the ammeter.
6. Add enough hot tap water to the jar so only one inch of the copper plates and the leads are above the water level. Mix in 2 tablespoons of salt, stir thoroughly until the salt dissolves. Don't get the leads wet.
7. Put the jar in a window or anywhere you can a constant source of bright light. You can register the amount of light your cell receives by watching the readings on the ammeter. Place your hand between the jar and the light source and you can see what that does to the output.
This is a fun experiment to do but please don't think that your homemade solar cells are going to power your t.v. You will need much more sophisticated cells to provide you with that kind of power.
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