If you put your hand on a solar panel, you can feel the glass panels. The sandwiching of thin round slices of silicon between glass sheets makes up the panel. The majority of solar panels installed in the US is made of polycrystalline silicon. This allows the solar cells to capture more sunlight which in turn, increases the overall power output. A few of the materials being used for solar cells include: CrystallineĬrystalline solar cells are panels that have a specially treated crystalline silicon that mimics the way natural crystals are formed. There are a few other materials that also work well for producing clean solar power. Silicon cells are not the only type of cells being made for harnessing the sun’s power. Since glass is clear, the sun is able to pass through it to power the solar cell. The glass covers the solar cell to increase the amount of power that is produced. The plastic covers are used to protect the silicon, and the cells, from these dangers. The silicon can be hazardous if it comes into contact with things in the air, like moisture or oxygen. The plastic acts as a covering to protect the silicon from the environment. Surrounding the silicon is a layer of glass and then a layer of plastic. These two layers make up the outside of the solar cell that you see. On a complete solar cell, silicon is used for the cell’s base and the cell’s top. Silicon is the most common material used for solar cell production. Scientists are hoping to extend the invention held in this substance to allow the production of affordable solar cells that are also stable, lightweight and flexible. Researchers are also working on an organic material that can be thin film-printed into a substance that can absorb the sun's energy and create electricity. Their efforts have produced a number of materials that are used in the production of solar cells in place of silicon, including cadmium telluride, gallium arsenide, and copper-indium-diselenide. The ability of silicon to absorb light is limited by Shockley-Queisser limitĪ couple of decades ago, photovoltaic scientists and technology started working on replacing silicon for other materials that are lighter, more suitable or less costly.Replacing high-cost silicon materials involves a significant amount of expensive electricity.Silicon-crystalline wafers alone are harder to produce than other materials. ![]() Some of the problems that come with using silicon as a material for solar cells are: Silicon is also the most popular element used in solar cells and solar panels because of its availability – silicon is the second most abundant element found in the earth's crust. Nowadays, solar cells are made up of lightweight, extremely thin sheets of silicon that can be used in a vast variety of applications. Solar cells have come a long way from being made of heavy and slightly expensive glass. This means that a single solar cell can still produce electricity from a cloudy day or from an area that is not directly in the sun. However, the cell’s semiconductor can absorb light from a wide variety of different angles. This process works best when the sun is hitting the solar cell directly. This is why the actual cells are not exposed to the air, but they are covered with glass, plastic, or a mesh to keep the insulating materials out of the way. The rest is reflected, and the reflected light becomes heat. When light hits the solar cell, the electrons in the semiconductor are excited, allowing them to flow freely and create electricity.Īs it turns out, however, only about thirty percent of the light is converted to electricity. The basic structure of a solar cell is a semiconductor, similar to copper, that is neither an insulator nor a conductor. While there are ways to store and save electricity from solar power, the basic function is to use the sun’s rays to power your appliances and electronics. When most people think of solar cells, they picture a large panel in the desert, turning sunlight into electricity. How can you tell a good solar cell from a bad one? If you’re not an electrical engineer, this is probably a difficult question to answer.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |