Ads
related to: explain solar panels using chemistry
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
Solar array mounted on a rooftop. A solar panel is a device that converts sunlight into electricity by using photovoltaic (PV) cells. PV cells are made of materials that produce excited electrons when exposed to light.
The first demonstration of the photovoltaic effect, by Edmond Becquerel in 1839, used an electrochemical cell. He explained his discovery in Comptes rendus de l'Académie des sciences, "the production of an electric current when two plates of platinum or gold immersed in an acid, neutral, or alkaline solution are exposed in an uneven way to solar radiation."
Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons by the photovoltaic effect. [15] [16] Solar cells produce direct current electricity from sunlight which can be used to power equipment or to recharge batteries.
Solar power, also known as solar electricity, is the conversion of energy from sunlight into electricity, either directly using photovoltaics (PV) or indirectly using concentrated solar power. Solar panels use the photovoltaic effect to convert light into an electric current. [63]
However, the solar frequency spectrum approximates a black body spectrum at about 5,800 K, [1] and as such, much of the solar radiation reaching the Earth is composed of photons with energies greater than the band gap of silicon (1.12eV), which is near to the ideal value for a terrestrial solar cell (1.4eV). These higher energy photons will be ...
The lightweight solar panels, developed by researchers in Australia and the UK, were able to convert 11 per cent of the Sun’s energy into electricity, making them suitable for commercial use.