Magnolia Solar Receives NYSERDA Contract to Improve Light Trapping in Solar Cells

Magnolia Solar declared that its auxiliary company has signed a contract with New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) for developing a new product.

The contract requires Magnolia Solar to perk up the functioning of thin film solar cells by integrating an improved light entrapping know-how and by including nanostructured optical coatings. The program comes with an award of $250K and the company will add a matching amount to continue the program for a period of one year.

The company, in order to pursue its technical efforts will team up with Prof. Fred Schubert (Magnolia Solar Technical Advisory Board’s Member) and his other team mates at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI). The team will integrate the complex type of nanostructured-based coatings formulated for light emitting diodes within the high efficiency solar cell coatings. The new program is based on an existing and continuing NYSERDA agenda at Magnolia Solar.

Dr. Roger E. Welser, Chief Technical Officer for Magnolia and the programs Principal Investigator, will lead the efforts of the program. He said that the research is aimed at modernizing the power production potential of the photovoltaic systems utilized all over the world by introducing a cost-effective film expertise to deliver improved power generation per unit area of the film. He added that the nano-structured optical coatings formulated by the company in coordination with Prof. Fred Schubert can reduce the shortcomings of reflections on the front surface of thin film solar cells and salvage the photons that go through the device backwards into the absorbing semiconductor thin film layers.