In the 19th century, it was observed that the sunlight striking certain materials generates detectable electric current – the photoelectric effect. This discovery laid the foundation for solar cells. Solar cells have gone on to be used in many applications. They have historically been used in situations where electrical power from the grid was unavailable.

As the invention was brought out it made solar cells as a prominent utilization for power generation for satellites. Satellites orbit the Earth, thus making solar cells a prominent source for power generation through the sunlight falling on them. Solar cells are commonly used in satellites in today's times.

1800s

1839 - Edmond Becquerel observes the photovoltaic effect via an electrode in a conductive solution exposed to light. 1873 - Willoughby Smith finds that selenium shows photoconductivity. 1874 - James Clerk Maxwell writes to fellow mathematician Peter Tait of his observation that light affects the conductivity of selenium. 1877 - William Grylls Adams and Richard Evans Day observed the photovoltaic effect in solidified selenium, and published a paper on the selenium cell. 'The action of light on selenium,' in "Proceedings of the Royal Society, A25, 113. 1883 - Charles Fritts develops a solar cell using selenium on a thin layer of gold to form a device giving less than 1% efficiency. 1887 - Heinrich Hertz investigates ultraviolet light photoconductivity and discovers the photoelectric effect 1887 - James Moser reports dye sensitized photoelectrochemical cell. 1888 - Edward Weston receives patent US389124, "Solar cell," and US389125, "Solar cell." 1888–91 - Aleksandr Stoletov creates the first solar cell based on the outer photoelectric effect 1894 - Melvin Severy receives patent US527377, "Solar cell," and US527379, "Solar cell." 1897 - Harry Reagan receives patent US588177, "Solar cell." 1899 - Weston Bowser receives patent US598177, "Solar storage."

1900–1929

1901 - Philipp von Lenard observes the variation in electron energy with light frequency. 1904 - Wilhelm Hallwachs makes a semiconductor-junction solar cell (copper and copper oxide).

1904 - George Cove develops a solar electric generator. 1905 - Albert Einstein publishes a paper explaining the photoelectric effect on a quantum basis. 1913 - William Coblentz receives patent US1077219, "Solar cell." 1914 - Sven Ason Berglund patents "methods of increasing the capacity of photosensitive cells." 1916 - Robert Millikan conducts experiments and proves the photoelectric effect. 1918 - Jan Czochralski produces a method to grow single crystals of metal. Decades later, the method is adapted to produce single-crystal silicon. 1921 - Einstein awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for his work on the photoelectric effect.

1930–1959

1932 - Audobert and Stora discover the photovoltaic effect in Cadmium selenide (CdSe), a photovoltaic material still used today. 1935 - Anthony H. Lamb receives patent US2000642, "Photoelectric device."Issue date: May 7, 1935. 1946 - Russell Ohl files patent US2402662, "Light sensitive device." 1948 - Gordon Teal and John Little adapt the Czochralski method of crystal growth to produce single-crystalline germanium and, later, silicon. 1950s - Bell Labs produce solar cells for space activities. 1953 - Gerald Pearson begins research into lithium-silicon photovoltaic cells. 1954 - On April 25, 1954, Bell Labs announces the invention of the first practical silicon solar cell. Shortly afterwards, they are shown at the National Academy of Sciences Meeting. These cells have about 6% efficiency. The New York Times forecasts that solar cells will eventually lead to a source of "limitless energy of the sun". 1955 - Western Electric licences commercial solar cell technologies. Hoffman Electronics-Semiconductor Division creates a 2% efficient commercial solar cell for $25/cell or $1,785/watt. 1956 - RCA Joseph J. Loferski published a highly-cited paper titled "Theoretical Considerations Governing the Choice of the Optimum Semiconductor for Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conversion" 1957 - AT&T assignors (Gerald L. Pearson, Daryl M. Chapin, and Calvin S. Fuller) receive patent US2780765, "Solar Energy Converting Apparatus." They refer to it as the "solar battery". Hoffman Electronics creates an 8% efficient solar cell. 1957 – Mohamed M. Atalla develops the process of silicon surface passivation by thermal oxidation at Bell Laboratories. The surface passivation process has since been critical to solar cell efficiency.

1958 -Hoffman Electronics creates 9% efficient solar cells. Vanguard I, the first solar-powered satellite, was launched with a 0.1 W, 100 cm2 solar panel., Japan's Mount Shinobuyama station is the world's first instance of solar power being chosen as a permanent, practical, and economically justified solution for civilian infrastructure. 1959 - Hoffman Electronics creates a 10% efficient commercial solar cell, and introduces the use of a grid contact, reducing the cell's resistance.

1960–1979

1960 - Hoffman Electronics creates a 14% efficient solar cell. Prior researchers had noted the theoretical radiation advantages of n-on-p material under laboratory conditions, early attempts to build the cells resulted in poor electrical efficiency. Joseph Mandelkorn,U. S. Army Signal Research and Development Laboratory. ,developed low-temperature phosphorus diffusion, and succeeded in making the radiation-resistant n-on-p silicon solar cell 10% efficient, and as practical and easily manufactured as the standard commercial p-on-n cell." ----.

1961 - "Solar Energy in the Developing World" conference is held by the United Nations. 1962 - The Telstar communications satellite is powered by solar cells. 1963 - Sharp Corporation produces a viable photovoltaic module of silicon solar cells. 1964 - The satellite Nimbus I is equipped with Sun-tracking solar panels. 1964 - Farrington Daniels' landmark book, Direct Use of the Sun's Energy, published by Yale University Press. 1967 - Soyuz 1 is the first crewed spacecraft to be powered by solar cells 1967 - Akira Fujishima discovers the Honda-Fujishima effect which is used for hydrolysis in the photoelectrochemical cell. 1968 - Roger Riehl introduces the first solar-powered wristwatch. 1970 - First highly effective GaAs heterostructure solar cells are created by Zhores Alferov and his team in the USSR.Alferov, Zh. I., V. M. Andreev, M. B. Kagan, I. I. Protasov, and V. G. Trofim, 1970, Solar-energy converters based on p-n AlxGa12xAs-GaAs heterojunctions, Fiz. Tekh. Poluprovodn. 4, 2378 (Sov. Phys. Semicond. 4, 2047 (1971))]Nanotechnology in energy applications , pdf, p.24Nobel Lecture by Zhores Alferov, pdf, p.6 1971 - Salyut 1 is powered by solar cells. 1973 - Skylab is powered by solar cells. 1974 - Florida Solar Energy Center begins.

1974 - J. Baldwin, at Integrated Living Systems, co-develops the world's first building (in New Mexico) heated and otherwise powered by solar and wind power exclusively. 1976 - David E. Carlson and Christopher Wronski of RCA Laboratories create first amorphous silicon PV cells, which have an efficiency of 2.4%. 1977 - The Solar Energy Research Institute is established at Golden, Colorado. 1977 - The world production of photovoltaic cells exceeded 500 kW 1978 - First solar-powered calculators. Late 1970s: the "Energy Crisis"; groundswell of public interest in solar energy use: photovoltaic and active and passive solar, including in architecture and off-grid buildings and home sites.

1980–1999

1980 - The Institute of Energy Conversion at University of Delaware develops the first thin-film solar cell exceeding 10% efficiency using Cu2S/CdS technology. 1981 - Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is founded by Adolf Goetzberger in Freiburg, Germany. 1981 - Isofoton is the first company to mass-produce bifacial solar cells based on developments by Antonio Luque et al. at the Institute of Solar Energy in Madrid. 1982 - The first >10% amorphous silicon thin-film solar cell is reported. 1983 - Worldwide photovoltaic production exceeds 21.3 megawatts, and sales exceed $250 million. 1984 - 30,000 SF Building-Integrated Photovoltaic [BI-PV] Roof completed for the Intercultural Center of Georgetown University. Eileen M. Smith, M.Arch. took 20th Anniversary Journey by Horseback for Peace and Photovoltaics in 2004 from solar roof to Ground Zero NY World Trade Center to educate public about BI-PV Solar Architecture. Array was still generating an average of one MWh daily as it has since 1984 in the dense urban environment of Washington, DC. 1985 - 20% efficient silicon cells are created by the Centre for Photovoltaic Engineering at the University of New South Wales. 1986 - 'Solar-Voltaic DomeTM' patented by Lt. Colonel Richard T. Headrick of Irvine, California, as an efficient architectural configuration for building-integrated photovoltaics [BI-PV]; Hesperia, California field array. 1988 - The Dye-sensitized solar cell is created by Michael Grätzel and Brian O'Regan. These photoelectrochemical cells work from an organic dye compound inside the cell and cost half as much as silicon solar cells. 1988–1991 AMOCO/Enron used Solarex patents to sue ARCO Solar out of the business of a-Si (see Solarex Corp.(Enron/Amoco) v.Arco Solar, Inc.Ddel, 805 Fsupp 252 Fed Digest.) 1989 - Reflective solar concentrators are first used with solar cells. 1990 - The Magdeburg Cathedral installs solar cells on the roof, marking the first installation on a church in East Germany. 1991 - Efficient photoelectrochemical cells are developed

1991 - President George H. W. Bush directs the U.S. Department of Energy to establish the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (transferring the existing Solar Energy Research Institute). 1992 - The PV Pioneer Program started at Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD). It was the first broad based commercialization of distributed, grid-connected PV system ("roof-top solar") It became the model for the later CA Million Solar Roofs Program.Switching To Solar, Bob Johnstone, 2011, Prometheus Books 1992 - University of South Florida fabricates a 15.89% efficient thin-film cell. 1993 - The National Renewable Energy Laboratory's (NREL) Solar Energy Research Facility is established. 1994 - NREL develops a GaInP/GaAs two-terminal concentrator cell (180 suns) which becomes the first solar cell to exceed 30% conversion efficiency. 1996 - The National Center for Photovoltaics is established. Graetzel, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland achieves 11% efficient energy conversion with dye-sensitized cells that use a photoelectrochemical effect. 1999 - Total worldwide installed photovoltaic power reaches 1,000 megawatts.

2000–2019

2003 - George Bush has a 9 kW PV system and a solar thermal systems installed on grounds keeping building at the White House 2004 - California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger proposed Solar Roofs Initiative for one million solar roofs in California by 2017.Simone Pulver, Barry G. Rabe, Peter J. Stoett, Changing Climates in North American Politics: Institutions, Policymaking, and Multilevel Governance, MIT Press, 2009, p. 67 2004 - Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius issued a mandate for 1,000 MWp renewable electricity in Kansas by 2015 per Executive Order 04-05. 2006 - Polysilicon use in photovoltaics exceeds all other polysilicon use for the first time. 2006 - California Public Utilities Commission approved the California Solar Initiative (CSI), a comprehensive $2.8 billion program that provides incentives toward solar development over 11 years. 2006 - New World Record Achieved in Solar Cell Technology - New Solar Cell Breaks the "40 Percent Efficient" Sunlight-to-Electricity Barrier. 2007 - Construction of Nellis Solar Power Plant, a 15 MW PPA installation.