Photovoltaics years in Northern Europe. The term "photovoltaic" comes from the Greek φῶς ("phōs") meaning "light", and from "volt", the unit of electro-motive force, the volt, which in turn comes from the last name of the Italian physicist Alessandro Volta, inventor of the battery (electrochemical cell). The term "photo-voltaic" has been in use in English since 1849. Photovoltaics are best known as a method for generating electric power by using solar cells to convert energy from the sun into a flow of electrons by the photovoltaic effect. Solar cells produce direct current electricity from sunlight which can be used to power
Thermoelectric effect heat that is generated whenever a current is passed through a resistive material, is related, though it is not generally termed a thermoelectric effect. The Peltier–Seebeck and Thomson effects are thermodynamically reversible, whereas Joule heating is not. The Seebeck effect is the conversion of heat directly into electricity at the junction of different types of wire. Originally discovered in 1794 by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta, it is named after the Baltic German physicist Thomas Johann Seebeck, who in 1821 independently rediscovered it. It was observed that a compass needle would be deflected by a closed loop formed by two different