When sunlight strikes the solar cell, electrons (red circles) are knocked loose. They move toward the treated front surface (dark blue color).
An electron imbalance is created between the front and back.
When the two surfaces are joined by a connector, like a wire, a current of electricity occurs between the negative and positive sides.
These individual solar cells are arranged together in a PV module and the modules are grouped together in an array. Some of the arrays are set on special tracking devices to follow sunlight all day long.