The Evolution of Solar Cells

Our planets natural resources of non-renewable fossil fuel energy are fast

diminishing and the harsh global warming effect is increasing every day. Solar

energy is the most important invention that humans every made because it

has enabled us to harness the power of sun to create a clean renewable energy

source. The growth of the solar cells in the 19th century has taken on the most

significance importance when we look at how important solar energy has

become today.

You may already know that solar cells are the device that is used to collect and

break down sunlight energy into DC electricity, making use of the photovoltaic

effect, and that an Inverter is then used to convert that DC current into the

usable AC form of electricity. The term "photovoltaic" has been used since

1849 and is derived from the Greek word "phos" meaning "light" and the word

"voltaic" meaning "electric". The voltaic word is from the Italian physicist Volta.

These photovoltaic cells are a simple but ingenious invention used to then

create solar panels, photovoltaic arrays and solar modules.

The History of Photovoltaic

The first person to recognize the photovoltaic effect was the French physicist

A.E Becquerel in 1839, but it wasn't until 1883 that the first solar selenium

based cell was built by Charles Frits. Then later on Aleksandra Stoletov, a

Russian physicist built the first solar cell that was actually based on

photoelectric effect. Albert Einstein explained the photoelectric effect in 1905

for which he won a Nobel Physics Prize in 1921. The beginning of modern solar

power technology was at Bell Laboratories in 1954, where Daryl Chapin and his

colleagues invented the first practical device that converted the sunlight into

electrical power. They experimented with the semiconductors and accidentally

realized that the silicon doped that has certain impurities is very sensitive to

sunlight. This finding resulted in the production of the first useful solar cells

with the efficiency for sunlight energy conversion of 6%. The process of

reproduction and evolution has been basis for the growth of different types of

solar cells that still continues today.

Present Solar Cells

Selenium gave way to silicon as the major material to be used in solar cells. Up

till now silicon has dominated the production of solar cells but there are

several new types of solar cells that are gaining momentum; cadmium

telluride, amorphous silicon and CIGS are among others. These semiconductors

are famous for having created several different kinds of solar cells like

polymer, dye-sensitized, monocrystalline silicon, Nano crystalline and copper

indium. Solar cells manufacturers are now focused on the challenge of how to

increase the photovoltaic efficiency whilst still reducing their cost.

Future Solar Cells

It's known now that laser technology can help to develop future solar cells

production, as it can optimize the manufacturing costs and efficiency of the

solar cells. This means that Solar PV system costs are expected to fall in the

future to the point where they will become affordable for an average

household even without government subsidies and rebates.

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