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Improved surface passivation for semiconductor solar cells

改进半导体太阳能电池的表面钝化

基本信息

批准号：
EP/M022196/1
负责人：
Ruy Bonilla Osorio
金额：
$ 47.86万
依托单位：
University of Oxford
依托单位国家：
英国
项目类别：
Fellowship
财政年份：
2015
资助国家：
英国
起止时间：
2015 至无数据
项目状态：
已结题

来源：
https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=EP%2FM022196%2F1
关键词：
Improved surface passivation semiconductor solar

项目摘要

The world is currently undergoing one of the biggest transformations in energy usage since the industrial revolution. From the poorest to the richest nations, our planet has shown the consequences of climate change, and the exhaustion of some fossil fuels is now in the foreseeable future. We have started to change the way we generate, distribute and use energy throughout the world. Solar power is one of the most environmentally favourable sources, which in principle could provide all the energy required for the planet. Solar cells use the photovoltaic effect to convert solar energy to usable electrical energy, and thus are a key technology to provide the world with renewable, inexpensive and reliable electricity. Photovoltaics research and industry have experienced enormous advancements in the last two decades. The most important material by far in the photovoltaics field is silicon. Silicon today accounts for over 85 % of the photovoltaics market, and has over 140 GW of installed capacity. Current silicon solar cell systems have an energy payback time of only 2-4 years with 30-years lifetime. Their cost of power generation is now falling below 0.5 $/W, and in some areas of the world they are already cost effective for supplying grid electricity. Silicon photovoltaics is therefore an extremely promising technology where significant technological improvements are still possible which will ensure further price reductions and increased deployment. Silicon solar cells capture solar energy when light is absorbed near the cell's surface and it creates electrical charge carriers. These carriers then diffuse through the cell, get collected at one of the contacts and are then able to deliver electricity. In this process many carriers are lost due to the imperfections of the material. The conversion efficiency of a solar cell is therefore limited by this loss of charge carriers at imperfections and defects. The surface of the cell represents a major material defect. The reduction of charge loss at the surface, termed passivation, is hence a critical feature requiring improvement. This project aims to improve the efficiency of silicon solar cells by optimising passivation using the cost-effective technologies proposed and patented as part of my previous research work. It is rare that a newly proposed technique could produce a step-change in the efficiency of passivation in commercial solar cells. This grant application will specifically enable that step-change to be developed. My research programme includes the fabrication, processing and characterisation of different passivation coatings used in solar cell manufacture. Different methods of producing the coatings and enhancing their passivation properties will be studied. Techniques to deposit the coating will include chemical and physical vapour deposition. In each case the key importance will be the characteristics of the layer with respect to storing excess electric charge that will be especially introduced. The research will be carried out at the Oxford Materials department, in close partnership with four UK manufacturing companies and a leading overseas research centre, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE. This institute will provide processing and characterisation facilities, staff time and state-of-the-art custom-made solar cells, and will also help interface the outcomes of this collaboration to the solar cell industry worldwide. Overall, this project will combine a strong team of academics and industry to improve efficiency and reduce the cost of semiconductor solar cells, thus paving the way for wide deployment and uptake of a technology with the potential to provide the world with abundant renewable and reliable energy.

世界目前正在经历自工业革命以来最大的能源使用转型之一。从最贫穷的国家到最富有的国家，我们的星球都显示了气候变化的后果，一些化石燃料的枯竭现在是在可预见的未来。我们已经开始改变我们在全世界生产、分配和使用能源的方式。太阳能是最环保的能源之一，原则上可以提供地球所需的所有能源。太阳能电池利用光伏效应将太阳能转化为可用的电能，因此是为世界提供可再生、廉价和可靠电力的关键技术。在过去的二十年里，光化学研究和工业经历了巨大的进步。到目前为止，光致发光领域最重要的材料是硅。如今，硅占光电子市场的85%以上，装机容量超过140吉瓦。目前的硅太阳能电池系统的能量回收期只有2-4年，寿命为30年。它们的发电成本现已降至0.5美元/瓦以下，在世界某些地区，它们已经具有供应电网电力的成本效益。因此，硅光化学是一种非常有前途的技术，其中仍然有可能进行重大的技术改进，这将确保进一步降低价格和增加部署。硅太阳能电池在电池表面附近吸收光时捕获太阳能，并产生电荷载流子。然后，这些载流子在电池中扩散，在其中一个触点处被收集，然后能够输送电力。在这个过程中，由于材料的缺陷，许多载体损失。因此，太阳能电池的转换效率受到在缺陷和瑕疵处的电荷载流子的这种损失的限制。电池的表面代表主要的材料缺陷。因此，减少表面的电荷损失（称为钝化）是需要改进的关键特征。该项目旨在通过优化钝化来提高硅太阳能电池的效率，该钝化使用了我以前研究工作中提出并获得专利的成本效益技术。这是罕见的，一个新提出的技术可以在商业太阳能电池的钝化效率产生阶跃变化。这项赠款申请将特别使这一步的变化得到发展。我的研究计划包括太阳能电池制造中使用的不同钝化涂层的制造，加工和表征。将研究生产涂层和提高其钝化性能的不同方法。存款涂层的技术将包括化学和物理气相沉积。在每种情况下，关键的重要性将是该层关于存储将特别引入的过量电荷的特性。该研究将在牛津大学材料系进行，与四家英国制造公司和一家领先的海外研究中心弗劳恩霍夫太阳能系统研究所ISE密切合作。该研究所将提供加工和表征设施、员工时间和最先进的定制太阳能电池，并将帮助将这一合作的成果与全球太阳能电池行业对接。总的来说，该项目将联合收割机强大的学术和工业团队，以提高效率和降低半导体太阳能电池的成本，从而为广泛部署和采用一种有潜力为世界提供丰富的可再生和可靠能源的技术铺平道路。