And no don’t say “cells generate electricity” Yes I know that, but what chemical or whatever process makes it that sunlight is converted to electricity?
I have been wondering this all my life an no matter how much research I do I can’t seem to find the answer, every place just says that some cells inside the panels is what generates electricity, but not how those cells do it
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The thing you’re looking for is photovoltaic effect. It’s a physical process, not chemical. To put it very simply, when different materials absorb light (electromagnetic wave), it adds energy to the particle that “collided” with a photon. Usually this results in added hit. However, in some materials this “collision” can eject an electron out of the atom. When electrons and protons get separated like that, that’s where we get charged particles, and when we get charged particles, we can try to exploit it and generate electricity as they try to rejoin.
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