Who Came Up With The Solar Panel

The solar panel has come a long way, but what about its origins. Specifically, who came up with the idea of the solar panel?

The name photovoltaic solar panel is derived from the Greek word phos meaning light and the name Volta, after the Italian physicist who developed the concept of voltage. Combined, this yields photovoltaic – of light and electricity.

The credit for inventing the photovoltaic solar cells is generally given to Alexandre-Edmund Becquerel, a French physicist. However, equal credit must be given to Charles Fritts, Russell Ohl, and scientists at Bell laboratories.

Becquerel first noticed the photovoltaic effect in 1839; light energy from the sun can be converted into electrical energy. However, the first solar cell was not built for another 44 years. Charles Fritts, an American, coated the semiconductor selenium with a thin layer of gold. Unfortunately the resulting device, while it did convert light energy into electric energy, had only about a 1% efficiency rate. Combined with the high expense of creating this piece of equipment, the invention was not practical or cost-effective in generating solar energy. What it did do, however, was whet the appetite of future scientists.

Russell Ohl was a noted researcher in semiconductors. He specialized in the study of the properties of crystals. He discovered the PN junction, which showed how the impurities in crystals impacted the flow of electricity. From this work, he was able to determine that super-purifying geranium was the key to making reusable semiconductor material for diodes. It was his work with diodes that led to his creation of the silicon solar cell in 1946. It was considered an “accident” and occurred while he was working at Bell labs on his semiconductors. By infusing silicon with certain impurities, the silicon becomes sensitive to light. Ohl’s work was considered advanced and only understood by a few of his colleagues.

Ohl’s work led to the production of the modern solar cells. These first photovoltaic cells had a sunlight to energy conversion rate around 6%. This generated interest in geostationary communications satellite because the photovoltaic cells provided the first viable renewable energy source.

Government funding was then thrown behind the development and improvement of solar panels in order to further the use of communication and spy satellites. Bell labs was source of much of the early innovation related to solar panel development.

From the work of a few extremely advanced scientists, the world now has over 200 manufacturers of solar panels. Solar energy is considered the most promising technology for our future needs of renewable and sustainable energy.
Rick Chapo is with SolarCompanies.com - learn more about solar panels.

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