How does the solar enegy panel work?

Question

How does the solar enegy panel work?

Answer 1

Infoboi's answer before me  tells about it all. I just mangaed to find some thing add!

Apart from high grade silicon, Copper Gallium Indium Selenide(CIGS), and  also Cadmium Telluride  too  can   be used in PV cells.

The last two are  said to be  more efficient in converting  the light energy  impinging on them.(approx 20% against 13 -16 % of Silicon).

Answer 2

Photovoltaic (PV) cells convert light energy into electrical energy, as French physicist Edmond Becquerel discovered as early as 1839.

Most commercial PV cells are made of silicon which is a semiconductor. Semiconductors are able to absorb some of the light that hits that material and do something useful with it.

With pure silicon all the electrons (negatively charged particles) in the material are locked in the crystalline structure and cannot move. The silicon in a solar cell is changed slightly so that it will work as a solar cell by the deliberate addition of impurities. The bulk of the cell is typically p-type material where a small amount of positive donors are added to the silicon wafer; another layer of n-type silicon is created on the cell with negative donors in order to facilitate the movement of electrons, the basic electricity carriers.

When light hits the solar cell, it makes electrons move across the boundary and this creates an electric current which can be drawn off and used to light homes by placing a metal contact at the top and bottom of the cell.