12/05/2024
When you’re considering a large purchase like a solar panel system, it’s natural to have a lot of questions about the panels themselves and how they’re made. After all, most people would want to ensure that the big choices they make are ones they completely understand before they spend thousands or tens of thousands of dollars on solar panel arrays.
Although the job a solar panel system does is a complicated one, the parts that go into them are fairly simple. Let’s talk about what it takes to make an efficient solar panel and how this affects how they work.
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Photovoltaic Cells: The Basic Building Block
Photovoltaic (PV) cells are the basic building blocks of any solar panel. If you want to know what solar panels are made of, the answer is simple: PV cells. r. PV cells are typically made of sandwiched layers of silicon plus another element, often boron, gallium or phosphorus.
To create a PV cell, you need a layer of P-type silicon, which is silicon plus boron or gallium, and a layer of N-type silicon, which is silicon plus phosphorus. The P-type silicon has a positive charge, and the n-type has a negative charge. When these two oppositely charged silicon layers are sandwiched together, an electric field is created. Connecting these two layers further with an electric wire allows electricity to flow in a very orderly manner.
In a monocrystalline PV cell, the silicon comes from a single, continuous silicon block which is cut into silicon wafers or