Photon replaced by gas atoms in solar panels systems Could be replaced photon in solar energy systems by the pressured non-ideal gas? Have gas atoms enough energy to hit electrons out in the material in solar panel?
 A: I like the creativity of this idea. It is a form of thermophotovoltaic conversion where the kinetic energy of the gas generates a photocurrent in a circuit.
You would have to maintain a temperature gradient across the device to drive the reaction.
I think the main problem with this concept is gas molecule would have to be travelling very fast to ionise the material, probably so much so that your material would degrade.
Also, I don’t think it is possible selectively transfer energy from gas molecule to just the electrons: the gas molecules would transfer there energy to many atoms, so probably that process would have low efficiency because energy would be distributed over many particles rather than just electrons.
It does remind of the concept in thermal photovoltaics called photon-enhanced thermionic emission, https://www.esa.int/gsp/ACT/projects/pete/.
In this scheme, photons play the role of your gas molecules, and cause photoelectrons to be injected from the materials surface, basically the photoelectric effect with a hot semiconductor as the emitter. So you are in good company.
