How Solar Cell Works?

Many kind of energy, heat energy, potential energy, kynetic energy, lihgt energy, chemical energy and many other can be converted to another state of energy, directly, or indirectly as well.  A solar cell, also called potovoltaic cell or photoelectic cell is an electrical dxevice in solid state, that can converts the energy of light (photos) directly into electricity. You've probably seen calculators with solar cells, devices that never need bateries and in some cases, don't even have an off button. As long as there's enough ligth, they seem to work forever. You may also have seen larger solar panels, perhaps on emergency road signs, call boxes, buoys and even in parking lots to power the lights.

Although these larger panels aren't as common as solar-powered calculators, they're out there and not that hard to spot if you know where to look. In fact, solar cell which were once used almost exclusively in space, powering satellites' electrical systems as far back as 1958 -- are being used more and more in less exotic ways. The technology continues to pop up in new devices all the time, from sunglasses to electric vehicle charging stations.

The hope for a "solar revolution" has been floating around for decades -- the idea that one day we'll all use free electricity fro­m the sun. This is a seductive promise, because on a bright, sunny day, the sun's rays give off approximately 1,000 watts of energy per square meter of the planet's surface. If we could collect all of that energy, we could easily power our homes and offices for free.

In this article­, we will examine solar cells to learn how they convert the sun's energy directly into electricity. In the process, you will learn why we're getting closer to using the sun's energy on a daily basis, and why we still have more research to ­do before the process becomes cost-effective.

Assemblies of solar cells are used to make solar modules which are used to capture energy from sunlight. When multiple modules are assembled together (such as prior to installation on a pole-mounted tracker system), the resulting integrated group of modules all oriented in one plane is referred to in the solar industry as a solar panel. The electrical energy generated from solar modules, referred to as solar power, is an example of solar energy.

Photovoltaics is the field of technology and research related to the practical application of photovoltaic cells in producing electricity from light, though it is often used specifically to refer to the generation of electricity from sunlight.

Cells are described as photovoltaic cells when the light source is not necessarily sunlight (lamplight,artificial light etc). These are used for detecting light or other electromagnetic radiation near the visible range, for example infrared detectors, or measurement of light intensity.

from many sources.