Photovoltaic solar cells come in many different forms with the three main types of photovoltaic cell being Monocrystalline silicon, Polycrystalline silicon and Thin Film silicon. Crystalline silicon is the most common technology used to produce photovoltaic cells representing about 90% of the market today. The conversion efficiency for a monocrystalline cell ranges between 15 to 20% with polycrystalline lower between 10 to 14%. Thin film photovoltaics are produced by printing or spraying a thin semiconductor layer of photovoltaic material onto a glass, metal or plastic foil substrate making them cheap to manufacture.
Photovoltaic solar cells are silicon semiconductor devices which produce electricity by converting the solar energy generated from the sun in the form of visible light, ultra-violet, or infra-red radiation into a DC current by using the photovoltaic action of the cell without the use of any moving parts. The amount of electrical power, expressed in watts, generated by a photovoltaic solar cell depends on the amount of solar irradiance and other conditions such as temperature and cloud cover with the maximum or peak power a PV cell can deliver at full sun with the cell uncovered.
