How Are Polycrystalline Solar Panels Made

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.

How are polycrystalline solar panels made.

Monocrystalline solar panels are produced from one large silicon block and are produced in silicon wafer formats. Polycrystalline solar cells are manufactured like monocrystalline panels a seed crystal is placed into molten silica. Polycrystalline solar panel manufacturers melt multiple silicon fragments together to produce the wafers for these panels. 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 manufacturing process involves cutting individual wafers of silicon that can be affixed onto a solar panel. From there the grade must be further purified into polysilicon the solar grade purity of which is 99 999 percent. Polycrystalline solar panels are also referred to as multi crystalline or many crystal silicon. This cooling process causes multiple crystals to form.

These panels are made of silicon. 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 panels are also made from silicon. Polysilicon is produced from metallurgical grade silicon by a chemical purification process called the siemens process.

Mono crystalline silicon cells are more efficient than polycrystalline or amorphous solar cells. Polycrystalline solar cells are cheaper to make than monocrystalline cells. However instead of pulling out the silicon seed crystal the whole vat of silicon cools. To make the cells of polycrystalline panel fragments of silicon are melted together to form the wafers.

The cells are made using one of two different materials monocrystalline or polycrystalline. A polycrystalline solar panel sometimes called multicrystalline is made from polycrystalline solar cells like this one. However instead of using a single crystal of silicon manufacturers melt many fragments of silicon together to form the wafers for the panel. For this reason they are called poly or multi crystalline.