Low Cost Copper Transparent Electrode Materials (LOCUST)

该项目将利用铜纳米线（NW）为太阳能光伏电池生产低成本、高性能的透明导电电极（TCE）。TCE对于光伏电池是必不可少的，目前由银和氧化铟锡（ITO）来满足。然而，ITO价格昂贵，供应有限，而且在压力下性能往往会下降，因此人们对替代技术非常感兴趣。银纳米线tce已经被证明生产成本更低，并且在相同的透明度下比ITO具有更好的薄片导电性。铜的成本是银或银的1/100，而铜纳米线（Cu NW TCE）有望成为一种更可持续、成本更低的系统。该项目将克兰菲尔德大学（CU）的西北科学与光伏太阳能电池的工业加工经验和能力结合起来，与工业合作伙伴一起开发CU NW TCE。在Cu中制备NW铜和NW铜的图像化薄膜。防止CuNW氧化的涂层将由应用材料技术公司（AMT）开发，薄膜和硅光伏的器件集成将由Exergy和Solaris Photonics专家进行。原型设备将根据当前技术进行评估。

This project will produce low cost and high performance transparent conductive electrode (TCE) using copper nanowires (NW) for solar photovoltaic (PV) cells. TCE is essential for PV cells, currently met by silver and indium tin oxide (ITO). However, ITO is expensive, with limited supply, and tends to degrade in performance under stress, so there is great interests in alternative technology. Silver nanowire TCEs have been shown to be cheaper to produce and have better sheet conductance at the same transparency than ITO. Copper costs 1/100 of Ag or In, and Cu nanowire (Cu NW TCE) promises to be a more sustainable and lower cost system. The project aligns NW science in Cranfield University (CU) with industrial processing experience and capabilities on PV solar cells with industrial partners for development of Cu NW TCE. Cu NW and patterned thin films of Cu NW will be produced in CU. Coating to prevent oxidation of the CuNW will be developed by Applied Materials Technology, (AMT) , and device integration in both thin film and Si PV will be carried out by specialists Exergy and Solaris Photonics. Prototype devices will be evaluated against current technologies.