What is the material requirement for generating electricity from sun?
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What is the material requirement for generating electricity from sun?
Answer
The silicon that you'll now find in a solar cell is highly processed. The material is sourced in silica mines, which are often found in regions with heavy quartz concentrations. The silica is refined to reach metallurgical grade. This process takes place in an electric arc furnace, where carbon is used to release the oxygen in the silica quartzite, resulting in a more consistent silica makeup. However, metallurgical purity doesn't cut it for a photovoltaic cell.
High-efficiency rates will boost the amount of energy released by the cell, so the purity of the photovoltaic-capable material is of utmost importance. The metallurgical grade silicon is exposed to hydrochloric acid and copper, which produce trichlorosilane gas. Hydrogen is then used to reduce this gas to silane gas, which is in turn heated to make molten silicon.
Pure silicon is crystalline - a structure necessary for photovoltaic cells. The purity level of silicon at this state is anywhere from 99.99999% to 99.9999999% pure. Silicon can be arranged into either a monocrystalline structure, which boasts the highest efficiency rates as well as the highest cost, or a polycrystalline shell.