I got some busted laptop LCDs from a computer repair center to hack

I thought of something : Is there any chance the LCD can be operated backwards ie. used as solar cell ? that the liquid in it has the wanted properties ?

I mean as in disconnecting all the controllers and electronics, connecting all columns together for pole A and all rows together for pole B, and connecting load between A and B



I googled a bit, but the only stuff i found was about using the LCD just as the glass for a TiO2 / berries cell (that requires some chemistry and looks quite short-lived). Nothing about using the panel directly

Any thoughts ?

...ehrm...okay...you do spend your weekends well. In my very humble opinion...that would not work, because LCD panels are (if history lessons serve me) an X/Y matrix that needs to be powered. Granted, solar cells have a "liquid" inside as well, but I suspect the properties to be completely dissimilar...

Nice try...but I remain sceptical.

But, just for a sunday afternoon activity, you can make a solar cell...out of recycled stuff...

Thor

ARRRGGGH!!!

No, you can't change an LCD into a photovoltaic panel anymore than you can turn it into a frog. An lcd is a bunch of small crystals that turn to let light in or out.

A LCD is lighted by a cold cathode lamp (or leds). You can't take a lamp and get power out of it unless you burn it.

A pv is a device that when light or some other electromagnetic energy hits it, a pre-made path for electrons will allow a photon to shed at least one electron.

Solar cells can convert light into electrical energy. But LCDs can not convert electrical energy into light. They have to use backlights. The actual image is produced by cells that are absorbing light according to the voltage they are driven with.
So: No, that will not work. But you can try to use the displays in composition with overhead projectors or lamps as some sort of beamer or something similar.

Um, the problem that you have is that an LCD is not a light transducer. It does not turn electrons into photons and cannot therefore be run "in reverse". Even an LED in reverse doesn't really do the job. You get a photodiode, a light detector, its very limited in the current it will produce. The semiconductor in a solar cell are specifically fabricated to do the job they do.

LCD screens physically twist crystals in the liquid suspension causing them to become more or less aligned to a polarised screen in front of them. This allows more or less light through the screen. Unlike a plasma screen or an LED screen the light itself is created by a "backlight", not the liquid crystal substrate itself.

I believe you mean "backlit by a cold cathode lamp". (Besides that, many LCD panels are also LED-backlit [i.e. "LED screens" ].)

The actual pixel matrix is typically TFT-based.

EDIT: Ninja'd by a bunch of others.

LCD matrix doesn't emit light by itself. It changes transparency if there's power (to be more precise, crystals change alignment if there's power). Light is being emitted by LCD lamp, and last time I checked lamps normally don't work well as solar panels.

If you're interested in something like that, you may want to read about photodiodes and light-emitting diodes. If I remember correctly, if you open traditional transistor/diode, it may be able to emit light and/or respond to light. You won't get much power/light, and haven't heard about standard electronic component that "works both ways".

@ SigTerm:

You're right...in fact, I once experimented with a PNP metal-packaged transistor. Cut off the top and removed the putty inside. The thing produced (a very minute amount of) electricity.

I saw it was poorly written so I had it changed before it was pointed out.


I have played with some electronic stuff. Once in a while I do stuff that creates smoke and a bit of light. I don't think it is any scientific breakthrough.

Oooooooooooooooooooohh, okay, you're in the (pretty much) same line of experimental electronics...I only got as far as setting my desk on fire