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History of Solar Cells

Making Solar Cells more cost effective and easier to come by

Solar cell technology dates back to 1839, when a French physicist, Antoine-Cesar Becquerel discovered by shining light on an electrode that was submerged in a conductive solution, he could generate an electric current.

In 1881, the first genuine solar cell was created be Charles Fritts, who used junctions formed by coating selenium with a thin layer of gold.

In 1941, an American named Russell Ohl invented a silicon solar cell.

In 1954, three American inventors: Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chapin, created an array of several strips of silicon, placed them in sunlight, captured the free electrons and turned them into an electrical current. This process was about 6 % efficient. The highest efficiency rate to that point.

Thin film cells is a new technology that is making solar energy more cost effective, and scientists and physicists are working daily to improve their efficiency.

Solar power has been used in many limited ways, but with the current high prices of fossil fuels, this technology may need a boost to take off.

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