How do solar cells function?
While there are several different kinds of solar cell on the market today, almost all of them work on the same basic principle: packets of light called photons, knock electrons from one side of a silicon cell to the other. The various types of cells are manufactured in different ways and use slightly different additives to facilitate the photovoltaic effect but they are all made from high purity silicon with very small amounts of chemical additives. (The exact details of how the cells are made and how they facilitate the photovoltaic effect are beyond the scope of this article). The individual cells have a native voltage of roughly 0.5V and are strung together and laminated into panels to provide higher voltages. The differing processes and materials mean that each type of cell turns light into electricity with a different efficiency, will degrade at a different rate and will cost a different amount. It is these three factors; efficiency, durability and cost, that determine how effecti
