What is Photovoltaic?
Photovoltaic is a technology that uses a device, which is usually a solar panel, to produce free electrons when it is exposed to light. This in turn results in the production of electricity. The cells used in this technology are made up of at least two semi-conductor layers-a positive charge and a negative charge. In 1839, Edmund Bequerel, who was a French physicist, was the first person to note the photo-electric effect. He found that there were certain materials that could emit tiny amounts of electricity when they were exposed to light. Then in 1905, Albert Einstein won the Nobel Prize in Physics for his description of the nature of light and the photo-electric effect on which photovoltaic (PV) technology is based.
The light from the sun consists of particles that have solar energy which are called photons. When a PV cell is exposed to the sun, the solar cell absorbs or reflects the photon. The photon could also pass through the cell. When the negative PV layer absorbs enough photons, electrons are freed from the material that makes the negative semi-conductor. Naturally, the freed electrons migrate to the positive layer due to the manufacturing process of the positive layer. This in turn creates a voltage differential that is almost the same as a household battery.
When the positive and negative layers are connected to an external load, electricity is created with the flowing of the electrons through the circuit. 1-2 watts is the amount produced by a solar energy cell. To make sure that the output of power is increased, the cells are combined in a solar module which is a package that will make sure that nothing is affected by weather conditions. The next step is to wire these modules serially or parallel to each other. This is done to create a voltage that is desired and an amperage output that is required by the project that is being worked on at the time.
Silicon is the material that PV cells are mainly made of and this material is available in abundant amounts. Due to this and the unlimited resource that we get from the sun, solar cells are great as they are environmentally friendly. There is no need to burn fuel and there are no parts that need to be moved. This makes them maintenance free and clean. They also do not emit any sound which makes them the ideal power source.
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