A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is a device that converts
light energy into
electrical energy. Sometimes the term solar cell is reserved for devices intended specifically to capture energy from sunlight, while the term photovoltaic cell is used when the light source is unspecified.Fundamentally, the device needs to fulfill only two functions: photogeneration of charge carriers (
electrons and
holes) in a
light-absorbing material, and separation of the charge carriers to a conductive contact that will transmit the electricity (simply put, carrying electrons off through a metal contact into a wire or other circuit). This conversion is called the photovoltaic effect, and the field of research related to solar cells is known as
photovoltaics.
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