Journal #2

For Week 6 ~ December 3-7 ~ Caleb Rider

Goals
Week 4 ~ Nov 11-16
● Begin construction of the PV cell
● Contact advisors for assistance in construction
● Continue research to avoid pitfalls
Week 5 ~ Nov 20-29
● Finish construction of PV cell
● Order materials for laser and mount
● Begin construction of laser mount when materials arrive
Week 6 ~ Dec 3-7
● Complete my job shadow
● Continue obtaining materials for laser mount
● Continue construction of laser mount
Research and What I Learned
I will have parenthetical citations that just include numbers. Please refer to my bibliography at
the end for sources.

As this period of my project was a “build” phase, this section will be shorter and
my accomplishments will be longer.

As I was attempting to build my PV cell, I continued a small amount of research

to try and avoid pitfalls I might encounter during construction. During this research, I
stumbled across a couple small pieces of information that ground my construction to a
halt.

The first is that a PV cell must have a p-n junction,

an area between the n-type and p-type semiconductors
(also called a depletion region), to work (14). Although this
was information that I already knew, what I did not know,
is that for the depletion region to actually form and work,
the p- and n-type semiconductors must be present in the
same silicon wafer. A PV cell will not work if you try to
simply sandwich an n-type wafer and a p-type wafer
together, unless you heat them and and actually combine
them into a single wafer(17), something I lack the
capability to do. To do this I would need a device capable
of heating silicon to its melting point of about 2600
degrees Fahrenheit.

Now, this fact, in and of itself, did not totally shut me down at first. I told myself,
‘Well, I’ll just buy a pn-type silicon wafer.’ As it turns out, this is extraordinarily difficult. I
found a couple of companies off of whose websites you can order silicon wafers. They
have both p-type and n-type wafers, but pn-type wafers are a product they lack, and, to
a degree, I understand why. A pn-type silicon wafer is almost a functioning solar cell; it
simply needs electrical contacts. This makes them both harder to make and much more
valuable. I couldn’t find anywhere to purchase a pn-type silicon wafer, so my plan of
constructing my own functioning PV cell is out.

However, it is quite easy to purchase PV cells. I am going to look for a small,

efficient PV cell to use instead of creating my own.

During this journal period I have also researched lasers to use in tandem with my
PV cell. I have decided to use a blue laser for a couple of reasons. Blue and green
lasers are the two colors of the most powerful handheld lasers you can purchase. The
second reason is because PV cells are usually blue. This allows them to absorb more
light at the blue-purple end of the light spectrum, which is very energy-dense(7). For the
moving laser mount I will use two servos controlled by a Raspberry Pi, one to tilt the
laser up and down, and the other to swivel it in a circle.

Accomplishments
● Complete research of how to build a PV cell and the materials needed
● Order materials used for construction of the PV cell
● Work around pitfall in PV cell construction
● Complete research of laser and laser mount
● Order materials for laser and laser mount
● Complete job shadow
Reflection on Goals and Timeline
My project is still running smoothly. I have been progressing steadily through my
timeline and have been completing all the goals I set for myself. The pitfall in my PV cell
construction was not a major setback as it is very easy to simply purchase PV cells. I
suspected that this might happen, but I wanted to try my hand at it anyway. Following
this journal period, I will be working on construction of my laser mount and obtaining a
PV cell to wire to a phone charger, then enter into the large programming phase next
semester.
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12. Libal, Radovan Kopecek/Joris. “Switch from p to n.” PV Magazine International, 5 June 2012,
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