Talk:Photovoltaic effect

Article description

The photovoltaic effect involves the creation of a voltage (or a corresponding electric current) in a material upon exposure to electro-magenetic radiation. Though the process is directly related to the photoelectric effect the two processes are different and should be distinguished. In the photoelectric effect electrons are ejected from a materials surface upon exposure to radiation of sufficient energy. The photovoltaic effect is different in that the generated electrons are transferred from one material to another resulting in the buildup of a voltage difference between two electrodes.

In most photovoltaic applications the radiation is sunlight and for this reason the devices making use of the photovoltaic effect to convert solar energy into electrical energy are know as solar cells. In the case of a p-n junction solar cell illumination of the material results in the creation of an electric current as electrons and the remaining holes are swept in different directions by the built in electric field of the depletion region.

Future work

After working on Photovoltaics and Photovoltaic system, I believe future work can be done on this article to expand certain topics. Making a clear distinction from the Photoelectric effect is definitely a great direction, this can be furthered by talking about other effects such as efficiencies related to cell temperature and the influence of solar irradiation under the "Physics" section.

I recommend using the book Solar Energy Engineering Processes and Systems, Second Edition by Soteris A. Kalogirou (ISBN–13: 978-0-12-397270-5) as a reference for future material to be added to this article. Chapter #9 of the book goes into detail on these very topics and has graphics (see page #494, figure 9.9) depicting the trendlines of these very effects. I recommend their inclusion to the "Physics" section of the article if the copyright can be navigated.

Happy editing! DjDias (talk) 20:17, 22 March 2022 (UTC)

Previous discussions

Nathan heston (talk) 21:19, 7 June 2009 (UTC)

I intend to clean up the prose and claims surrounding the photovoltaic/photoelectric discussion. The photovoltaic effect discussed here (there is more than one PV effect) is the same phenomena as the photoelectric effect, except that the interface for the freed electron is a conducting electrode (anode or cathode) instead of the vacuum.

It has been a few years so things may have changed since Jacques Pankove wrote "Optical Processes in Semiconductors," so let me know if anyone feels strongly one way or the other, hopefully with a trail to some evidence. =)

After this is changed, I intend to sync up with photovoltaics.

Cheers, J.H. Gorse (talk) 03:04, 15 September 2011 (UTC)

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 18 January 2022 and 10 May 2022. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): DjDias (article contribs).

Why is it considered to be a chemical process?

My understanding is that it is purely physical process during electrical generation; chemistry is only involved in the manufacturing process. Digital27 (talk) 16:31, 15 November 2023 (UTC)