The sun shines on the semiconductor P-N junction, forming a new hole-electron pair. Under the action of the P-N junction electric field, the hole flows from the p region to the n region, and the electron flows from the n region to the p region. This is how photoelectric effect solar cells work.

Solar power generation methods There are two ways of solar power generation, one is the light-heat-electricity conversion method, and the other is the direct conversion method of light-electricity.

(1) The light - heat - electricity conversion mode through the use of solar radiation generated thermal energy to generate electricity, generally by the solar collector will absorb the heat energy into the steam of the working medium, and then drive the steam turbine to generate electricity. The first process is the light-heat conversion process; The latter process is the thermoelectric conversion process.

(2) The photoelectric direct conversion method is to use the photoelectric effect to directly convert the solar radiation energy into electric energy. The basic device of photoelectric conversion is solar cells. Solar cell is a device that directly converts solar light energy into electricity due to the photovoltaic effect. It is a semiconductor photodiode. When the sun shines on the photodiode, the photodiode will turn the sun's light energy into electricity and generate current. When many cells are connected in series or parallel, a solar cell array with relatively large output power can be formed.