How To Make Flexible Solar Panels

Flexible solar panels are constructed by sandwiching the solar cells between layers of a polymer.

How to make flexible solar panels.

To help give the inside of the solar panel a nicer look i used 2 strips of wiremold and ran the wires inside those. This is also seen in part 7 and part 8 of the video. Cheaper panels will use a polymer called polyethylene terephthalate while better panels will use etfe ethylene tetrafluoroethylene. Using these ultra thin silicon wafers gives solar panels many unique properties including flexibility for some models.

In order to make a flexible solar panel those silicon wafers must be sliced down to just a few micrometers wide. Flexible solar panels made of ultra thin silicon cells have been around for a while. Afterward i took the panel outside in the sun to test the voltage current of the whole panel to make sure i was getting 18 volts and 3 5 amps in an open circuit and short circuit.