Operating Principles

A schematic of a "screen printed" silicon solar cell, the cell presently produced in the highest volumes, is shown in Figure 1. Sunlight entering the cell is converted to an electrical current which flows through any electrical load connected between the cell terminals on the front and those on the rear of the cell. Albert Einstein's Nobel prize winning work on the photoelectric effect provides the basis for understanding the quantum particulate behaviour of the incoming light. Each photon in the sunlight is ideally converted into an electron within the semiconductor material forming the cell. The positive-negative (p-n) junction within the cell ensures that these light generated electrons flowing unidirectionally to the cell terminals and hence through the electrical load connected between them [Green, 1982].

http://www.atse.org.au/index.php?sectionid=391

- Xin Yun