Why can't I get a sheet of metal like aluminum or copper, put it in the sun, and make a solar panel?

If I wired it to a big battery, couldn't i make it work?





Why does it have to be expensive silicon?Why can't I get a sheet of metal like aluminum or copper, put it in the sun, and make a solar panel?
You clearly have no idea what is required to convert light into electrical energy.





Merely putting a metal plate in the sun successfully converts it into a hot metal plate. It does nothing more than that.





To convert light into electrical energy the light energy needs to create a potential between to points and to elevate electrons into unbonded states and then transfer electrons to create an electrical current. This is a lot more complex than making hot metal.





The challenge is to make a lot of current at sufficient potential differences to generate sufficient power to do sufficient amount of work in reasonable time. This is complex and the materials have to work properly. To date this has been complex and costly.





Now if you want to merely generate heat to warm the house on a sunny day, it is fairly simple. Making electrical energy in sufficient levels to do substantial work in reasonable time is not simple.Why can't I get a sheet of metal like aluminum or copper, put it in the sun, and make a solar panel?
no that won't work but if you wind up some copper pipe on it you will have a decent solar hot water heater.
Because its only part of the circuit.