Science Buddies: "Ask an Expert"

Hello sir i have a project that silicon solar panel is very expensive & its efficiency is very less so I'm trying to replace it with silicon dioxide (sand)
to produce electricity can i proceed with this project. silicondioxide will be permanently pasted to the polyethene plastic the electrodes are kept to take the electron.can silicon dioxide gives electrons when exposed to sun

swaroop - I'm afraid that your plan to replace a traditional solar cell with silicon dioxide sandwiched between electrodes will not generate any electric current. Even though the element silicon is embodied in the compound silicon dioxide, it has no properties that will produce a photo-voltaic effect. I don't know what your project thesis is, so I can't really assist beyond saving you some time at this point. There is a lot of material you can research on solar cell construction, and you will see that to generate free electrons from photons, a p-n junction will have to be formed in the polysilicon or monosilicon crystal. Silicon dioxide (sand) does not have a p-n junction, nor can one be formed in the material.

Rick Marz