[2026] PTE Academic Listening - Fill in the Blanks (Type In)

The photovoltaic effect, first discovered in the nineteenth century, is the process of converting sunlight directly into . It was not until the development of the silicon solar cell at Bell Labs in the 1950s that this technology became viable. At the atomic level, photons from the sun strike the solar panel, knocking loose from their atoms. This movement creates a flow of current that can be and stored for later use. In recent years, researchers have focused on increasing the of solar modules while reducing production costs. As the world shifts away from fossil fuels, solar energy is becoming an component of the global power grid.