SBIR Phase I: High Efficiency - Low Cost Hybrid Photovoltaic-Thermoelectric Cells

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将探索制造和优化适合集成到光伏(PV)电池中的热电(TE)器件的可行性，以提高光伏电池的性能和寿命。TE装置可用于冷却和加热光伏电池，有效地提高了现实条件下的光伏效率。温度每升高1摄氏度，晶硅光伏电池的功率输出就会下降0.4-0.5%。在大多数应用中，这通常会导致能源生产损失约20%。此外，任何电池的物理寿命终止的最大因素是在高温下的长时间运行。因此，热管理是任何晶体光伏系统的重要考虑因素。TE设备是可逆的，没有移动部件，基本上不需要维护，应该持续光伏系统的整个生命周期，并可以直接依靠光伏阵列产生的直流(DC)电力运行。将展示以近乎最先进的效率制造TE油墨和优化TE材料的能力，并将制造工作TE设备以展示其功能。该项目的广泛影响/商业潜力对快速增长的光伏组件市场非常重要，更重要的是，对提高全球能源生产的效率(和减少排放)具有重要意义。定制功能、大尺寸和成本效益的结合将推动自下而上的TE和TE/PV设备的巨大市场，这些设备可以在功能和成本上进行扩展，以满足产品开发人员以及批量制造商和公用事业的需求。与传统方法相比，制造热电元件的受控喷墨打印方法的优点包括：能够在制造过程中控制材料的物理性质，能够使用纳米颗粒实现三维结构的高压实密度，降低成本，并且缩短制造时间。拟议的工作将增加固态物理化学、墨水化学、微流体、喷墨打印沉积和喷墨打印机设计领域的知识和先进技术。这一努力的结果还将极大地增加对光伏系统中长期电池退化过程的了解，从而提高未来能源供应的这一非常大的组成部分的可靠性和经济性。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will explore the feasibility of fabricating and optimizing a thermoelectric (TE) device suitable for integration into a photovoltaic (PV) cell to increase the performance and lifetime of the PV cell. The TE device can be used to cool and heat the PV cell, effectively increasing the PV efficiency in real-world conditions. The power output of crystalline silicon PV cells decreases 0.4-0.5% for every degree Celsius of increased temperature. In most applications, this leads to a typical loss of about 20% in energy production. Furthermore, the single greatest contributor to the physical end-of-life for any cell is prolonged operation at high temperatures. Therefore, thermal management is an important consideration for any crystalline PV system. TE devices are reversible, have no moving parts, require essentially no maintenance, should last for the lifetime of the PV system and can run directly off the direct current (DC) power generated by the PV array. The ability to manufacture TE inks and optimize TE materials with near-state-of-the-art efficiencies will be demonstrated, and working TE devices will be fabricated to demonstrate their functionality. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is very significant to the rapidly growing market for PV modules and more important, to the increased efficiency (and decreased emissions) of worldwide energy production. The combination of custom capability, large size, and cost effectiveness will drive a sizeable market for bottom-up TE and TE/PV devices, which can be scaled in capabilities and costs to meet the needs of product developers, as well as volume manufacturers and utilities. Advantages of the controlled ink-jet printing method of manufacturing thermoelectric elements over conventional methods include: ability to control the physical properties of the materials during the fabrication, capability to achieve high compaction density of the 3-D structure using nanoparticles, reduced costs, and reduced fabrication times. The proposed effort will increase the body of knowledge and advance technology in the areas of solid-state physics and chemistry, ink chemistry, microfluidics, inkjet print deposition, and inkjet printer design. The results of this effort will also greatly increase knowledge of long-term cell degradation processes in PV systems, thereby improving reliability and economics of this very large component of future energy supply.