One of the most common question in people who are looking for a flexible solar panel is the choice between monocrystalline or polycrystalline panels.
This article wants to focus the attention on the main differences.
First of all, it’s important to clarify that the basic difference between the two different moduls is due to the cell used.
A solar cell or photovoltaic cell is an electrical device that conterts solar energy in electricity Cells are assembled, creating the photovoltaic module.
Working procedures and materials used to realized mono and polycrystalline panels are the same.
Which are the differences between monocrystalline and polycrystalline cells?
The monocrystalline cell is socalled because it is realized with monocrystalline silicum; it is the basic material of the electrical environment, the same used to to create the components of our electrical equipments. The cell comes from silicum ingots characterized by a continuous silicum grid.
Ingots are cut in thin slices, that worked, create photovoltaic cell ready to be assembled in the photovoltaic module.
Mono module are composed bya single silicum crystal. To the pure condition, silicum atoms are perfectly aligned: thanks to this structure, monocrystalline cells ensure more efficiency.
Poly cells come from a different working procedure; polycrystalline silicum ingots present non aligned crystals. Polycrystalline cells are less pure in comparison to monocrystalline cellsand they come from the working scraps of the monocrystalline cells
Talking about performances, are there some differences?
Efficiency of monocrystalline cells is higher than polycrystalline cells, tha means that it is possible to have more power in the same surface.Mocrystalline cells by Giocosolutions can reach an efficiency of 21%, instead, polycrystalline cells used by Giocosolutions have an efficiency of 18%. Therefore, if we have a small surface available, it can be better to use monocrystalline panels to have an higher efficiency with a small number of panels.
Productivity, energy that the two modules can produce in the period, is the same.
Are there differences in the price?
The two different modules present different prices, in fact, the polycrystalline cell is characterized by an inferior purity and an inferior efficiency, this explains the difference in the price.
So, if we must choose between a monocrystalline or polycrystalline panel, we can’t focus only on the differences between the modules, but it’s importan to take into consideration many factors: available surface, use, price…