New Research Results in Solar Cells with Increased Grain Size

New research by a professor of engineering from University of Arkansas establishes a method to improve the conversion efficiency of the solar cells to lessen the cost of pricey materials utilized in the production of a solar cell.

The new invention is anticipated to bring down the cost-per-watt generation of solar electricity to that of the fossil-fuel power generation.

According to Hameed Naseem, professor of electrical engineering and director of Solid State Lab of the university, the new technology with further minor improvements will deal with the perennial problem of high cost per kilo watt power production and will ultimately aim to bring its price lesser than that of fossil-fuel generated power. The new process formulated by Naseem, also known as topdown aluminum-induced crystallization, produces poly-silicon with crystal grains that are 30 times bigger than the grains presently made in  photovoltaic manufacturing.  When comparing to a normal poly-silicon, which has grains measuring 0.5 to 1 micrometer, which amounts to one hundredth the diameter of a human hair, the new process ceded grains up to 150 micrometers in size. The increased size of grains results in the reduction of number of cell boundaries to assist the increased power generation. Also, the new method requires only between 100 to 300°C temperature to make the amorphous silicon to attain the poly-silicon state instead of the 1000°C temperature required in the conventional method to make the silicon to attain the crystalline state, which in turn results in saving on material costs energy and time.

The prototype cells produced by the team engineers at Silicon Solar Solutions has met or crossed the performance criteria of the cells manufactured by the major producers. The lab results of the prototype cells are competitive with that of the cells available in the market and denote the least expensive production process.