Researched
Photovoltaics
The Bell Labs silicon solar cell turns light into usable electricity for the first time - 6% efficiency.
Open in the interactive tree →The photovoltaic effect was known since Becquerel in 1839 and was explained by Einstein's 1905 work on the photoelectric effect. In April 1954 Chapin, Fuller and Pearson at Bell Labs presented the first practical silicon cell with about 6% efficiency; from 1958 it powered satellites. Only mass production and subsidies turned it over decades into the cheapest source of electricity in the world.
Prerequisites
- Periodic Table of Elements1869
- Industrial Research Laboratory1876The first silicon solar cell was made at Bell Labs in 1954
- Planck's Quantum of Action1900Solar cells rely on the photoelectric effect, explained with Planck's quanta
- Quantum Mechanics1925
- Transistor1947
- Ultrapure Silicon & Chips1954The first practical solar cell (Bell Labs, 1954) used ultrapure doped silicon
Unlocks
- Space stations1971The station's power comes from large solar array wings
- Solar Boom & Price Collapse2015–2026
- Perovskite-Silicon Tandem Cells2025
- Artificial Photosynthesisopen
- Gigatonne-scale CO2 removalopen
- Sunlight to Fuel2040s?