How Do Electrons Flow On Solar Panel

When the sunlight falls on the solar cells the electrons in semiconductor gets enough energy to be excited from valence to conduction band.

How do electrons flow on solar panel. As the sun hits the solar panels they generate direct current dc electricity where the electrons flow around a circuit in one direction. The magic that makes solar panels work the photovoltaic effect is the fancy name given to the phenomenon of converting light to electricity in a conventional solar panel. The higher the rate of photons striking the solar cell the more power it can produce. If this happens in the electric field the field will move electrons to the n type layer and holes to the p type layer.

Because of the opposite charges of the layers the electrons want to flow from the n type layer to the p type layer. The solar panels generate electricity as long the sun hits the solar panels. In order for your home to use this energy it must be converted from dc electricity to alternating current ac electricity where the electrons are pushed and pulled. The generation of electricity is based on the creation of an electric field.

An electric field is created when opposite charges interact similar to the poles of a magnet. When sunlight strikes a solar cell electrons in the silicon are ejected which results in the formation of holes the vacancies left behind by the escaping electrons. Solar panels are made up of hundreds of photovoltaic cells which are most often composed of silicon as the semi conductor. As the solar panel generates an electric current the energy flows through a series of wires to an inverter see step 3 above.

Solar panels actually comprise many smaller units. The electricity generated is multiplied by the number of solar cells in each solar panel and the number of solar panels in each solar array. Electricity is simply a flow of electrons running around a closed circuit. Once the loose electrons hit metal plates the current is then directed into wires allowing the electrons to flow like they would in any other source of electric generation step 2 in our process.

When sunlight enters the cell its energy knocks electrons loose in both layers. When the solar cell is connected to a load lamp small fan etc the electrons flows due to potential difference created between the cathode and anode. Simply put a solar panel works by allowing photons or particles of light to knock electrons free from atoms generating a flow of electricity.