Once only used in space, Solar Panels have even made it to the tops of large business buildings and millions of homes, Recreation Vehicles and even swimming pools are powered and heated by solar power.

Not only are the panels getting much cheaper but they’re looking good too. Portable Solar Panels are popping up all over. Federal and State governments are enacting laws left and right to help consumers buy panels, brings costs down, and move to renewable energy in general. It’s also easy to build one your self if you just want heat. Harvard University has even created nano-scale solar wire!

But the real question is, just how does a panel of metal and glass really turn the sun into Energy?

The answer is through the magic of silicone. Silicon has a lot of uses in technology. Computers especially depend heavily on Silicon as it’s used in every single chip, including CPUs, GPUs, and memory.

In a process called “doping” Phosphorous is mixed with Silicon to introduce impurities in the silicon. Since Silicon has 4 empty electron slots it tends to bind very tightly with other Silicon atoms. Phosphorous has 5 extra electrons though. So when it’s mixed there end up being extra electrons. Adding energy, in this case heat, causes the extra electrons to break free. As a “free carrier” they move around and carry energy with them. This is known as an N-Type reaction.

But, there has to be a way for the energy to be collected. Enter our friend Boron which is mixed with Silicone in the same way. But instead of free carrier electrons, there is an excess of protons. This is known as a P-Type reaction. Put the two layers together and an energy field is created. The Free Carrier electrons suddenly see a bunch of lonely protons and fills them up.

In between the two layers a diode is formed by the energy field. This allows electrons to flow into the positive side but not the other way. But add in more protons via light and this neutrality of the energy field is disrupted. Previously bonded Electron/Proton pairs are destroyed and electrons will try to return to their original side via a conveniently place bridge (usually a wire of some sort.) This is known as current and with the energy field providing voltage, power is created from the Sun.

Other materials can create similiar reactions and then are layered with the Silicon mixes to increase efficiency from 3-4% to 20-25%. The Silicone is usually then put into a glass and metal case to protect it, and an anti-reflective coating much like an upside down mirror is applied to the top to keep the Silicone from bouncing back light. There are a lot of other factors to consider when creating a solar panel such as the natural resistance of the silicone that decrease the efficiency.

While solar panels in general have their drawbacks the technology itself is pretty sound.But as more and more people invest, it’s only going to get more efficient and cheaper until the drawbacks are resolved.

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