I/UCRC for Next Generation Photovoltaics

下一代光伏产业/大学合作研究中心1134849得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校(UT-A)；布莱恩·科格尔得克萨斯大学奥斯汀分校(UT-A)将成为现有的下一代光伏产业/大学合作研究中心(I/UCRC)的一个新地点。下一代光伏I/UCRC于2010年3月1日正式开始，科罗拉多州立大学(CSU)是该中心唯一的地点(也是牵头机构)。下一代光伏中心专注于通过开发新的前体、材料和配方来创造创新的新战略，以实现低成本光伏设备。光伏产业面临的最大长期挑战是开发一种低成本、可扩展和可靠的制造方法来生产与化石燃料具有成本竞争力的太阳能电池。这需要效率高于20%的新PV，这些PV适合在现场使用20年，并且可以非常低的成本制造。这个I/UCRC网站将致力于开发制造成本非常低但效率非常高的多结薄膜PVs。将开发新的材料、前体、配方和工艺。这项研究处于材料科学与工程、化学、化学工程、物理和电气工程的前沿。大幅降低光伏成本的解决方案将导致太阳能电池技术的广泛采用，并减少世界对不可再生能源的依赖。研究问题也是未来科学家和工程师的一个很好的培训舞台，因为它是高度跨学科的，并为学生提供了一个培训环境。I/UCRC的努力还将与CSU和UT-A专注于绿色技术的教育项目相结合。I/UCRC中的产业伙伴关系对该项目的成功也至关重要，并有可能促进显著的经济增长。拟议中的网站将拥有一支由不同性别、种族和民族的教职员工和学生组成的团队，并将始终努力增加该项目参与者的多样性。

I/UCRC for Next Generation Photovoltaics 1134849 University of Texas at Austin (UT-A); Brian Korgel The University of Texas, Austin (UT-A) will become a new site in the existing Industry/ University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for Next Generation Photovoltaics. The I/UCRC for Next Generation Photovoltaics began officially on March 1, 2010, with Colorado State University (CSU) as the only site (and the lead) in the Center. The Center for Next Generation Photovoltaics focuses on the creation of innovative new strategies to low-cost photovoltaic devices by developing novel precursors, materials, and formulations. The biggest long-term challenge facing the photovoltaics (PVs) industry is the development of a low-cost, scalable and reliable manufacturing approach to produce solar cells that are cost competitive with fossil fuels. This requires new PVs with efficiencies higher than 20% that are suitable for use for 20 years in the field and can be manufactured at very low cost. This I/UCRC site will target the development of multijunction thin film PVs that are very cheap to make but can achieve very high efficiencies. New materials, precursors, formulations and processes will be developed. This research is at the frontier of materials science and engineering, chemistry, chemical engineering, physics and electrical engineering. A solution to decrease PV costs significantly would lead to widespread adoption of solar cell technology and a decrease in the world's reliance on non-renewable energy resources. The research problem is also an excellent training arena for future scientists and engineers, as it is highly interdisciplinary and provides a training environment for students. The I/UCRC efforts will also be interfaced with educational programs at CSU and UT-A focused on green technology. The industrial partnerships in the I/UCRC are also vital to the success of the program, and have the potential to catalyze significant economic growth. The proposed site will have a team of faculty and students that is diverse in gender, race and ethnicity and will always strive to increase the diversity of participants in the program.