Open-circuit voltage

Definition of open-circuit voltage. The box is any two-terminal device, such as a battery or solar cell. The two terminals are not connected to anything (an open circuit), so no current can flow into or out of either terminal. The voltage voc between the terminals is the open-circuit voltage of the device.
Black curve: The highest possible open-circuit voltage of a solar cell in the Shockley–Queisser model under unconcentrated sunlight, as a function of the semiconductor band gap. The red dotted line shows that this voltage is always smaller than the band gap voltage.

Open-circuit voltage (OCV or VOC) is the difference of electrical potential between two terminals of an electronic device when disconnected from any circuit.

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