How Are Polycrystalline Solar Panels Made

Polycrystalline solar cells are cheaper to make than monocrystalline cells.

How are polycrystalline solar panels made.

These panels are made of silicon. From there the grade must be further purified into polysilicon the solar grade purity of which is 99 999 percent. Polysilicon is produced from metallurgical grade silicon by a chemical purification process called the siemens process. Because there are many crystals in each cell.

Mono crystalline silicon cells are more efficient than polycrystalline or amorphous solar cells. Polycrystalline solar panels are also referred to as multi crystalline or many crystal silicon. Polycrystalline solar panels are also made from silicon. This cooling process causes multiple crystals to form.

The cells are made using one of two different materials monocrystalline or polycrystalline. Polycrystalline is slightly cheaper but is less efficient so a solar panel made with monocrystalline cells will generate more energy than one made using polycrystalline cells but will be more expensive. The manufacturing process involves cutting individual wafers of silicon that can be affixed onto a solar panel. Polycrystalline silicon or multicrystalline silicon also called polysilicon or poly si is a high purity polycrystalline form of silicon used as a raw material by the solar photovoltaic and electronics industry.

The silicon in solar panels is manufactured through a reduction process in which the silica is heated with a carbon material and the oxygen is removed leaving behind purer metallurgical grade silicon. Polycrystalline solar panel manufacturers melt multiple silicon fragments together to produce the wafers for these panels. However instead of pulling out the silicon seed crystal the whole vat of silicon cools. For this reason they are called poly or multi crystalline.

To make the cells of polycrystalline panel fragments of silicon are melted together to form the wafers. A polycrystalline solar panel sometimes called multicrystalline is made from polycrystalline solar cells like this one. Monocrystalline solar panels are produced from one large silicon block and are produced in silicon wafer formats. Although polycrystalline solar panels are also composed of silicon it does not involve the use of single crystal silicon.