SBIR Phase I: New Biological/Inorganic Nanomaterials for Photovoltaic Cells

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种独特的生物和无机材料组合，用于制造纳米结构光伏（PV）或太阳能电池。 光伏电池提供了一种有吸引力的低成本和可再生能源，随着其构造中使用的材料在将太阳能转化为电能方面变得更有效，光伏电池与传统能源相比变得越来越具有竞争力。 目前的商业PV电池使用无机材料，例如，硅、非晶硅或砷化镓、磷化铟和碲化镉的薄层，这些半导体材料具有非常接近PV太阳能电池中能量转换的最佳值的带隙能量。不幸的是，它们的制造是复杂的，它们无法与传统能源的成本竞争。例如，即使在太阳能电池中使用的GaAs和InP的薄层也是非常昂贵的，并且它们中的一些，例如，CdTe由于其毒性可能是环境不可接受的。 纳米技术的最新发展提供了在纳米和分子尺度上的材料设计控制，允许有序地控制材料的性质，利用纳米结构材料的高表面积。这项技术的更广泛影响将是一种新型的纳米结构光伏电池板，它将以更有效的方式捕获太阳能，并使这种能源更具成本效益。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I Project will develop a unique combination of biological and inorganic materials for fabrication of nanostructured photovoltaic (PV) or solar cells. Photovoltaic cells offer an attractive low cost and renewable source of energy, which is becoming increasingly competitive to conventional sources as the materials used in their construction become more efficient in converting the solar energy to electricity. Current commercial PV cells use inorganic materials, e.g., silicon, amorphous-silicon, or thin layers of gallium arsenide, indium phosphide and cadmium telluride, the semiconductor materials with bandgap energies very near to optimal values for energy conversion in PV solar cells. Unfortunately their fabrication is complex and they cannot compete with the cost of conventional energy sources. For instance, even thin layers of GaAs and InP used in the solar cells are very expensive and some of them, e.g., CdTe may be environmentally unacceptable because of their toxicity. Recent developments in nanotechnology offer material design control at the nano- and molecular scale allowing the properties of the materials to be orderly controlled, taking advantages of the high surface area of nanostructured materials. The broader impacts from this technology would be a new type of nanostructured photovoltaic panel which would capture solar energy in a more efficient way and that could make this source more cost effective.