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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