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A solar cell, or photovoltaic (PV) cell, is a device that converts light into electrical current using the photoelectric effect. The first solar cell was built by Charles Calcine in the 1880s.[70] In 1931 a German engineer, Dr. Bruno Lange, developed a photocell using silver selenide in place of copper oxide.[71] Although the prototype selenium cells converted less than 1% of incident light into electricity, both Ernst Werner von Siemens and James Clerk Maxwell recognized the importance of this discovery.[72] Following the work of Russell Ohl in the 1940s, researchers Gerald Pearson, Calvin Fuller, and Daryl Chapin created the silicon solar cell in 1954.[73] These early solar cells cost $286 USD/watt and achieved efficiencies of 4.5–6%.[74]
