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Saturday 22 November 2008
Research
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|NewsletterMaterials R&D
UK universities in £6m solar cell project
by Steve Bush
Tuesday 22 January 2008
Durham University is to lead a £6.3m university collaboration to develop thin-film solar cells.
“There are a number of themes as no one knows what the most successful are going to be,” principal investigator Professor Ken Durose told EW.
Thin film solar cells based on polycrystalline chalcopyrites such as CuInSe2 are 100 times better at collecting photons than silicon, allowing a 2.5µm layer to absorb as much light as a 0.25mm silicon wafer.
However, these polycrystalline materials are expensive, prone to energy wasting defects in micron-scale films, and cannot be modelled with the clinical accuracy available for single crystal silicon.
In September last year, Durose discussed with EW the problems of films that are thick enough to absorb all photons, but too thin to be effective devices. “Electron-hole pairs recombine at the crystal boundaries. You want grains to be big, so nucleation density has to be low,” he said, “but final coverage high” to avoid pin holes.
If very thin films can be made to behave well, there will be huge cost savings.
“Indium is $660/kg at the moment. If we could shave 1µm off the thickness of a 1GW array, we would save 50 tonnes of chalcopyrite,” said Durose.
Because of the price of indium, and the equally expensive alternative gallium, one research strand will look for different materials.
“We need an alternative to indium in the very long term. The resulting materials might not even have a chalcopyrite structure,” said Durose, adding: “We do have alternatives in mind, but are not disclosing them at this time.”
Indium is also the problem in another of the project strands, which will look for something to replace transparent conductor ITO (indium tin oxide).
Over the four year programme, Durose’ aim is to develop a manufacturable structure made of non-exotic materials in films as thin as practical - without necessarily breaking any efficiency records.
“What solar energy desperately needs is an equivalent to the Model-T Ford,” he said. “Not necessarily in the production process, but in the materials we need a Model-T Ford in our sights.”
The four-year project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under the SUPERGEN initiative, will also include: Bangor, Bath, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Northumbria and Southampton universities, Imperial College London, and nine industrial partners.
“There are a number of themes as no one knows what the most successful are going to be,” principal investigator Professor Ken Durose told EW.
Thin film solar cells based on polycrystalline chalcopyrites such as CuInSe2 are 100 times better at collecting photons than silicon, allowing a 2.5µm layer to absorb as much light as a 0.25mm silicon wafer.
However, these polycrystalline materials are expensive, prone to energy wasting defects in micron-scale films, and cannot be modelled with the clinical accuracy available for single crystal silicon.
In September last year, Durose discussed with EW the problems of films that are thick enough to absorb all photons, but too thin to be effective devices. “Electron-hole pairs recombine at the crystal boundaries. You want grains to be big, so nucleation density has to be low,” he said, “but final coverage high” to avoid pin holes.
If very thin films can be made to behave well, there will be huge cost savings.
“Indium is $660/kg at the moment. If we could shave 1µm off the thickness of a 1GW array, we would save 50 tonnes of chalcopyrite,” said Durose.
Because of the price of indium, and the equally expensive alternative gallium, one research strand will look for different materials.
“We need an alternative to indium in the very long term. The resulting materials might not even have a chalcopyrite structure,” said Durose, adding: “We do have alternatives in mind, but are not disclosing them at this time.”
Indium is also the problem in another of the project strands, which will look for something to replace transparent conductor ITO (indium tin oxide).
Over the four year programme, Durose’ aim is to develop a manufacturable structure made of non-exotic materials in films as thin as practical - without necessarily breaking any efficiency records.
“What solar energy desperately needs is an equivalent to the Model-T Ford,” he said. “Not necessarily in the production process, but in the materials we need a Model-T Ford in our sights.”
The four-year project, funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) under the SUPERGEN initiative, will also include: Bangor, Bath, Cranfield, Edinburgh, Northumbria and Southampton universities, Imperial College London, and nine industrial partners.
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