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How Solar Panels Works? in the forum
Technology
March 10, 2022 3:13 PM EST
Solar panels cover rooftops and roadside signs, and they keep spacecraft powered. What is the process of making solar panels?
The University of Minnesota Duluth explains that a solar panel generates electricity by allowing photons, or particles of light, to knock electrons loose from atoms. A solar panel is actually made up of many, smaller units called photovoltaic cells, which convert light into electricity. Solar panels are made up of many cells.
Each photovoltaic cell consists of two pieces of semiconductive material sandwiched together. According to the Proceedings National Graduate Conference 2012, photovoltaic cells are usually made of silicon, the same material used in microelectronics.
Photovoltaic cells require an electric field in order to work. Similarly to a magnetic field, which occurs when opposite poles are separated, an electric field occurs when opposite charges are separated. Manufacturers dope silicon with other materials to get this field, giving each slice of the sandwich a positive or negative charge.
The American Chemical Society reports that they seed phosphorous into the top layer of silicon, which adds extra electrons to that layer with a negative charge. Meanwhile, the bottom layer receives a dose of boron, which results in a positive charge or fewer electrons. At the junction between the silicon layers, all of this adds up to an electric field. When a photon of sunlight knocks an electron free, the electric field will force the electron out of the silicon junction.