Transformational concepts in window electrode design for emerging thin film photovoltaics

光伏(PV)设备将阳光直接转化为电能，在全球可再生能源版图中占据越来越重要的地位。今天的PV是基于传统的半导体，这些半导体的生产是能源密集型的，并且仅限于刚性平板设计。下一代PV将基于可以在低温下从溶液中加工的非常薄的半导体薄膜，这将打开极低成本制造工艺的大门，以及当今刚性平板PV所不具备的新应用领域，特别是在交通和建筑集成领域。新一代的薄膜PVs还提供了非凡的二氧化碳减排潜力，因为它们预计将在安装后几周内归还制造过程中使用的能量。然而，只有在允许光线进入这些设备的电极成本低且灵活的情况下，才能实现这种潜力，而且目前还没有一种电极技术同时满足成本约束和所需的技术规范。这项提议寻求使用三种新的、不同的方法来解决这一复杂的、内在的跨学科挑战，这些方法基于使用厚度小于100个金属原子的纳米结构金属薄膜。第一种方法专注于开发一种低成本、大面积的方法，用于制造具有密集孔阵列的金属膜电极，光可以畅通无阻地通过。第二种方法是确定一种新型“捕光”电极的设计规则，这种电极与入射光发生强烈的相互作用，捕获入射光并将其集中在负责将光转化为电能的器件内部半导体层的界面上。最后一种方法是将超薄金属薄膜与透明半导体材料的超薄薄膜相结合，通过两种薄膜固体薄膜的自发混合而获得具有优异性能的双层电极。英国在下一代PV的开发方面处于全球领先地位，越来越多的公司现在专注于将其推向市场，因此拟议研究计划的成果具有强大的潜力，可以直接提高英国在这一年轻行业的经济竞争力，并将有助于应对由于全球变暖而带来的气候变化这一当今至关重要的挑战。

Photovoltaic (PV) devices convert sunlight directly into electricity and form an increasingly important part of the global renewable energy landscape. Today's PVs are based on conventional semiconductors which are energy-intensive to produce and restricted to rigid flat plate designs. The next generation of PVs will be based on very thin films of semiconductors that can be processed from solution at low temperature, which opens the door to exceptionally low cost manufacturing processes and new application areas not available to today's rigid flat plate PVs, particularly in the areas of transportation and buildings integration. The emerging generation of thin film PVs also offer exceptional carbon dioxide mitigation potential because they are expected to return the energy used in their fabrication within weeks of installation. However, this potential can only be achieved if the electrode that allows light into these devices is low cost and flexible, and at present no electrode technology meets both the cost constraint and technical specifications needed. This proposal seeks to address this complex and inherently interdisciplinary challenge using three new and distinct approaches based on the use of nano-structured films of metal less than 100 metal atoms in thickness. The first approach focuses on the development of a low cost, large area method for the fabrication of metal film electrodes with a dense array of holes through which light can pass unhindered. The second approach seeks to determine design rules for a new type of 'light-catching' electrode that interacts strongly with the incoming light, trapping and concentrating it at the interface with the semiconductor layer inside the device responsible for converting the light into electricity. The final approach is based on combining ultra-thin metal films with ultra-thin films of transparent semiconductor materials to achieve double layer electrodes with exceptional properties resulting from spontaneous intermixing of the two thin solid films. The UK is a global leader in the development of next generation PVs with a growing number of companies now focused on bringing them to market, and so the outputs of the proposed programme of research has strong potential to directly increase the economic competitiveness of the UK in this young sector and would help to address the now time critical challenge of climate change due to global warming.