... off to use externally. E.g. the current can power a calculator. This current, together with the cell's voltage defines the power that the solar cell can produce. (P=IV) When light, in the form of photons, hits our solar cell, its energy frees electron-hole pairs. Each photon with enough energy will normally free exactly one electron, and result in a free hole as well. If this happens close enough to the electric field, or if free electron and free hole happen to wander into its range of influence, the field will send the electron to the N side and the hole to the P side. This causes further disruption of electrical neutrality, and if we provide an external current path, electrons will flow through the path to their original side (the P side) to unite with holes that the electric field sent there, doing work for us along the way. The electron ...

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