Silicon, used to make some of the earliest photovoltaic (PV) devices—is still the most popular material for solar cells.Silicon must be refined to a purity of 99.9999%. In single-crystal silicon, the molecular structure—which is the arrangement of atoms in the material—is uniform, because the entire structure is grown from the same crystal. This uniformity is ideal for transferring electrons efficiently through the material.

To make an effective PV cell, however, silicon has to be “doped” with other elements to make it N-type and P-type. The crystalline of a material indicates how perfectly ordered the atoms are in the crystal structure. Silicon, as well as other solar cell semiconductor materials, can come in various forms: single-crystalline, multi crystalline, polycrystalline, or amorphous. In a single-crystal material, the atoms making up the framework of the crystal are repeated in a very regular, orderly manner from layer to layer.

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Having dished out plenty of solar power info, I got to think whether or not the majority of people are even unaware of the brains behind the project, the Solar Panel? Whatever the metaphor, lets familiarize us with the photovoltaic physical workings of this super hero enigma.

How They Do And What They Do?

As mentioned, the principles of photovoltaic physics are used to convert the energy of the sun in to electricity rather than just heat. Now the impressive scientific stuff has been duly noted, let me paint a much simpler picture.

Solar cells are not made using pure silicon but instead have impurities added to it. Why? Because pure silicon crystals are non reactive in a stable state, which is not good as the electrons need some form of instability to be productive. So in this context some impurities must be required.

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