SBIR Phase II: High-Efficiency Nanocomposite Photovoltaics and Solar Cells

这个小型企业创新研究(SBIR)第二阶段项目专注于开发一种创新技术，利用最近发现的半导体纳米晶体中的载流子倍增效应来制造高效薄膜纳米复合光伏材料和太阳能电池。提出的概念采用了太阳能电池的智能设计，为纳米晶体中光产生的电子和空穴提供了快速而有效的空间分离。提出的REACH纳米技术平台解决了与纳米级物体，如纳米晶体、纳米棒、纳米线、纳米管等进行电通信的挑战性问题，并可用于开发许多其他具有众多商业和军事应用的纳米复合光电子器件。如果成功，基于示范技术的新一代高效光伏材料和太阳能电池的开发将对整个太阳能行业产生广泛的影响，从而实现可观的节能和环保。该技术具有很大的商业化潜力和利基市场。建议的全无机、高效、薄膜、柔性纳米结构光伏材料和太阳能电池可以在极端环境条件下运行，并显著节省质量和体积，非常适合用于许多应用，包括发电住宅屋顶、公用电网电源、紧急信号和电话、水泵、激活开关、电池充电器、住宅和商业照明等。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase II project is focused on development of an innovative technology for fabrication of high-efficiency thin film nanocomposite photovoltaic materials and solar cells taking advantage of the recently discovered effect of carrier multiplication in semiconductor nanocrystals. The proposed concept employs smart design of the solar cells providing fast and effective spatial separation of electrons and holes photo-generated in the nanocrystals. The proposed reach nanotechnology platform solves the challenging problem of electrical communications with nanoscale objects, such as nanocrystals, nanorods, nanowires, nanotubes, etc. It can be employed for development of many other nanocomposite optoelectronic devices having numerous commercial and military applications. If successful the development of new generation of high-efficiency photovoltaic materials and solar cells based on the demonstrated technology will have broad impact on the entire solar energy industry resulting in considerable energy savings and environmental protection. The technology has great commercialization potential and niche market. The proposed all-inorganic, high-efficiency, thin film, flexible nanostructured photovoltaic materials and solar cells, which can operate in extreme environment conditions and offer significant mass and volume savings, are ideally suitable for numerous applications, including power generating residential rooftops, power supplies for utility grid, emergency signals and telephones, water pumps, activate switches, battery chargers, residential and commercial lighting, etc.