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Contents
1History
2Physics
3Solar cells
4See also
5References
History[edit]
The first demonstration of the photovoltaic effect, by Edmond Becquerel in 1839,
used an electrochemical cell. He explained his discovery in Comptes rendus de
l'Académie des sciences, "the production of an electric current when two plates of
platinum or gold immersed in an acid, neutral, or alkaline solution are exposed in an
uneven way to solar radiation."[2]
The first solar cell, consisting of a layer of selenium covered with a thin film of gold,
was experimented by Charles Fritts in 1884, but it had a very poor efficiency.
[3]
However, the most familiar form of the photovoltaic effect uses solid-state devices,
mainly in photodiodes. When sunlight or other sufficiently energetic light is incident
upon the photodiode, the electrons present in the valence band absorb energy and,
being excited, jump to the conduction band and become free. These excited
electrons diffuse, and some reach the rectifying junction (usually a diode p–n
junction) where they are accelerated into the n-type semiconductor material by the
built-in potential (Galvani potential). This generates an electromotive force and an
electric current, and thus some of the light energy is converted into electric energy.
The photovoltaic effect can also occur when two photons are absorbed
simultaneously in a process called two-photon photovoltaic effect.