No.
Transformers only work with an alternating current. In fact one of the advantages of AC is that it can be easily transformed to other voltages, but that is a different topic.
The quickly changing direction of the alternating current causes the magnetic field around a transformer to continuously collapse and reform, which is what induces the current on the other side of the transformer. Whether the voltage steps up, down, or stays the same depends on the number of turns of wire on each side of the transformer.
Since a solar cell produces current that does not change (direct current) there is no change in the magnetic field and therefore no way to transform it.
HOWEVER, since people are never happy complying with the laws of physics as they stand, there is a way around this. The first time you connect a solar cell (let’s assume it’s producing some reasonable current) to a transformer the magnetic field will grow and there will be a small spike of current on the output side. It will stay this way until you disconnect the cell, when it will collapse and create another little spike.
By using modern electronics (very to moderately simple circuits) you can continuously turn the flow from the solar cell to the transformer on and off - imagine an automatic switch that switches it on and off 100 times per second.
Doing this will cause the magnetic field to grow and collapse at that frequency and then the transformer would work. If the number of turns of wire on the output side was twice the number of turns of wire on the input side, you would get twice the voltage.
HOWEVER, there are some things to keep in mind if you are actually going to do this:
- The waveform coming out of the transformer will not be a nice clean stable voltage - it will be “spiky” because of the way the current is being generated form the sudden changes in the transformer’s field. This is usually fixed by adding additional components, including capacitors, which can smooth out that flow of current.
- You will lose power from the inefficiency of doing the constant switching, as well as from running the electronics that are performing the switching.
- One law of physics that you CAN’T escape is that the power will remain the same. So if your solar cell was generating 1.5V at 100ma, when you transform it to 3.0V you will only have 50ma of current (at theoretical best - it will actually be less due to the losses discussed above).
There are lots of pre-made modules that will do this for you for various input/output voltages. Search for “DC to DC Boost Converter”.
Good luck with your solar powered bug zapper or whatever you are making!
