ELI5, how are solar panels made and can they be made in a form that isn’t a rigid rectangle?
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they are made by putting two layers of different semi-conductors on glass or transparent plastic. Sunlight makes electricity flow from one layer to the other.
They can be made in any shape, rectangles are just easier to produce and move and install. You can cover your roof with hexagons, but frame holding them will be more complex than with rectangular tiles.
There are flexible solar panels, e.g. for use on backpacks or clothes. They are not super flexible (more like cardboard than cloth), because if semiconductor layer cracks from too much bending, it will stop producing electricity.
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