used it as a curiosity because it was too expensive to be used widely.

The space industry began

making the first serious use of the technology to supply power to spacecraft in the 1960s.The
technology improved, its dependability was established, and its cost began to decrease through
the space programs.Photovoltaic technology gained recognition as a power source for non-space
applications during the 1970s energy crisis.
see caption The operation of a basic photovoltaic cell, also known as a solar cell, is depicted in
the diagram above.The same semiconductor materials used in the microelectronics industry, like
silicon, are used in solar cells.A thin semiconductor wafer is specially treated to create a positive
and negative electric field for solar cells.Electrons are released from the semiconductor material's
atoms when light energy strikes the solar cell.The electrons can be captured in the form of an
electric current, or electricity, by attaching electrical conductors to the positive and negative sides
of an electrical circuit.After that, this electricity can be used to power something like a light or a
tool.