Silicon

Abstract

Until recently, silicon was a material that we all used in various electronic devices but rarely saw. However, the increasing deployment of photovoltaic solar panels means that we now often see silicon either in polycrystalline, monocrystalline or amorphous (non-crystalline) forms. In fact, the use of elemental silicon in solar cells has been growing so rapidly in recent years that more silicon is now used in solar cells than in electronic devices. Still, most silicon (80%) is not used in elemental form but as an alloying element in various metals principally iron (ferro-silicon) and aluminum (aluminum-silicon) and in making silicones, which are silicon-oxygen polymers. Silicon is also present as an oxide or silicate in ceramics, glasses and various building materials.