PHY100H5 Lecture Notes - Lecture 19: Paul Alivisatos, Solar Panel, Solar Roadways
Document Summary
Chemist paul alivisatos explains how to generate electricity from sunlight. Large silicon: provides electrical current when struck by light. Electrons in the crystal start vibrate and jump (vibrate more than the normal solid) Paul alivisatos, deputy laboratory director at lawrence berkeley national. Laboratory in california and leader of their helios solar energy research project. Solar cell: takes sunlight and converts it into electoricty. How: the bonds between slicion atoms: covalent. When light absorbed: one of the bonds gets excited up to a higher energy level and can move around more freely than when it is bound. The electrons are able to move around more freely : causing current. Photons causing the electron to move to a higher electron level , makes it more energized. Electricity: the flow of moving electrons at a higher level. Power efficiency: 22% -23% (convert this range of light into electricity) http://science. nasa. gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2002/solarcells/
