Though a couple of scientists were curious about this invention, most scientists paid little attention. Perhaps, so little was their knowledge on solar energy. In those times, since there were better technologies to generate electricity, the PV technology failed to attract the masses. In fact, in modern terms, it was a flop. It was Albert Einstein who made a major breakthrough in the development of solar technology.
He set his mind to understand how light could possibly create electricity when it hit a metal. Einstein knocked down everyone with his terrific explanation. He explained that light was made of tiny packets of energy called photons. He also elaborated on how photons wiggled like waves as they sped along.
Einstein proposed that these photons are more powerful in ultraviolet light that in the normal light that we can see.
He also added that these photons have enough energy to knock the loose electrons off some materials like silicon and selenium. These knocked out free electrons move through wires as electric current or electricity. After testing these ideas, many scientists were convinced. It was for these ideas that Einstein won a Nobel Prize. So, all the credit goes to Einstein who paved a path for the future scientists who made more efficient photovoltaic or PV cells.
In the late s until the s, oil and gas were cheaper options of generating electricity. However, a few scientists did not lose hope and kept trying their best to find a way to use solar energy to generate electricity. In , a German scientist named Bruno Lange succeeding in building a solar panel out of selenium. Unfortunately, Lange also faced the same problems as Fritts. The amount of electricity generated through this solar panel was too low and hence it was not very useful.
Besides, the selenium cells also failed to last long in intense sunlight. These drawbacks made experts feel that PV cells cannot serve as a good way to produce electricity. The next ten years, the concept was almost buried.
However, in the s, people again became interested in solar electricity generation. It was in the s that the idea thrust up with full force, and this time, in a different and successful way. Accidentally, they created a PV cell that produced electricity when placed in light. Patent and Trademark Office.
Long before the first Earth Day was celebrated on April 22, , generating awareness about the environment and support for environmental protection, scientists were making the first discoveries in solar energy. It all began with Edmond Becquerel, a young physicist working in France, who in observed and discovered the photovoltaic effect — a process that produces a voltage or electric current when exposed to light or radiant energy.
He began registering patents for solar-powered engines in the s. From France to the U. Take a light step back to when New York inventor Charles Fritts created the first solar cell by coating selenium with a thin layer of gold. Most modern solar cells work at an efficiency of 15 to 20 percent. So, Fritts created what was a low impact solar cell, but still, it was the beginning of photovoltaic solar panel innovation in America. Named after Italian physicist, chemist and pioneer of electricity and power, Alessandro Volta, photovoltaic is the more technical term for turning light energy into electricity, and used interchangeably with the term photoelectric.
Only a few years later in , inventor Edward Weston received two patents for solar cells — U. Patent , and U. Patent , In this instance, light creates heat, which creates electricity; this is the exact reverse of the way an incandescent light bulb works, converting electricity to heat that then generates light. That same year, a Russian scientist by the name of Aleksandr Stoletov created the first solar cell based on the photoelectric effect, which is when light falls on a material and electrons are released.
This effect was first observed by a German physicist, Heinrich Hertz. Each bar was hermetically sealed in a glass tube, and a platinum wire projected from each end for the purpose of connection A physical phenomenon allowing light-electricity conversion - the photovoltaic effect, was discovered in by the French physicist, Alexandre Edmond Becquerel. Experimenting with metal electrodes and electrolyte he discovered that conductance rises with illumination.
Willoughby Smith discovered the photovoltaic effect in selenium in In , with his student Richard E. Day , William G.
Adams discovered that illuminating a junction between selenium and platinum also has a photovoltaic effect. These two discoveries formed a foundation for the first selenium solar cell construction, which was built in Charles Fritts first described them in detail in In , Heinrich Hertz discovered that ultraviolet light changes the voltage at which sparks between two metal electrodes would be initiated.
The author of the most comprehensive theoretical work about the photovoltaic effect was Albert Einstein , who described the phenomenon in For his theoretical explanation, he was awarded a Nobel Prize in Einstein's theoretical explanation was proven in practice by Robert Millikan's experiment in In , a Polish scientist Jan Czochralski [2] discovered a method for monocrystalline silicon production, which enabled monocrystalline solar cell production.
The first silicon monocrystalline solar cell was constructed in In , the photovoltaic effect in cadmium-selenide was observed. Nowadays, CdS is among the important materials for solar cell production. In , the first germanium solar cells were made. Dan Trivich of Wayne State University made some theoretical calculations on solar cell efficiency with different materials, and on solar spectrum wavelengths in Bell's Laboratories published the results of the solar cell operation with 4.
In , the preparation of satellite energy supply by solar cells began. Western Electric put up for sale commercial licenses for solar cell production. The first radiation-proof silicon solar cell was produced for the purposes of space technology in the same year. On 17 th March, the first satellite powered by solar cells, Vanguard I, was launched.
The system ran continuously for 8 years. The first telephone repeater powered by solar cells was built in Americus, Georgia. The first sun-powered automobile was demonstrated in Chicago, Illinois on August 31 st A United Nations conference on solar energy application in developing countries took place in The Defence Studies Institute organised the first photovoltaic conference during the same year, in Washington.
In , the first commercial telecommunications satellite, Telstar, developed by Bell Laboratories, was launched. The photovoltaic system peak power for satellite power supply was 14 W. The second photovoltaic conference took place in Washington. In , Sharp Corporation developed the first usable photovoltaic module from silicon solar cells.
The biggest photovoltaic system at the time, the W module field, was set up in Japan. A year later, in , Americans applied a W photovoltaic field in the Nimbus space project. In , the Japanese scientific programme for Japanese satellite launch commenced. The following year, in , an astronomical observatory with 1 kW peak power photovoltaic module field was tracked in the earthly orbit. In , Roger Little established Spire Corporation, which became and still is an important producer of solar cells production equipment.
In , Solar Power Corporation was established. The company started commercial business in , when a sales office in Braintree, Massachusetts was opened [3].
The French implemented a CdS photovoltaic system, enabling an educational TV programme broadcast in the province of Niger in
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