Charged oxide inversion layer (COIL) solar cells

光伏（PV）太阳能电池现在产生世界电力的很大一部分，并且具有进一步增长的巨大潜力。光伏发电对英国非常重要，目前在英国安装了超过13.5吉瓦，预计未来三十年全球增长将超过十倍。超过90%的太阳能电池由晶体硅制成，成本已经下降到以前认为不可能的水平（< 2.34美分/千瓦时）。其他技术尚未获得工业牵引力，进入的商业壁垒正在变得很大。因此，硅基太阳能技术可能在未来几十年内仍然占主导地位，对可再生能源的扩张至关重要。它的持续发展对于加速全球绿色发电的吸收和影响以及履行英国在巴黎协定下的义务至关重要。钝化发射极和背面电池（PERC）架构是当今硅太阳能电池的标准。PERC技术将在未来10年内达到其实用极限，最高预测商业效率约为24%。要克服这一效率边界，需要规避PERC限制的电池架构。该项目旨在开发一种新的电池技术，以取代PERC，其中避免了高温处理的缺点，充分利用了单个结的效率潜力，并直接实现串联和双面架构。该计划汇集了牛津大学和沃里克大学的团队，他们在硅表面钝化，载流子寿命和杂质管理方面拥有世界领先的专业知识，用于光伏器件的开发。其目的是进行必要的基础工作，以促进逐步降低光伏发电的每瓦成本，从而在这一重要的可再生能源行业的发展中产生颠覆性的变化。该项目将通过集成先进的纳米级薄膜材料来开发带电氧化物反型层（COIL）太阳能电池，以增加硅吸收剂的PV潜力。这种新颖的电池架构有可能超越当前的标准PERC器件，同时提供了一种直接的路线，用于新兴的选择性接触，串联和双面设计。到目前为止，反型层结构的效率仅在有限的程度上得到利用，例如在18%的电池中。COIL电池的潜力远远超出了这个标志，并且在单结配置中可以实现高达28%。该项目将提供解锁这种潜力所需的基本理解，通过设计高电荷介电薄膜来利用反型层概念，并使用这些薄膜来生产原型电池器件。

Photovoltaic (PV) solar cells now generate a significant proportion of the world's electricity and have vast potential for further growth. PV is enormously important to the UK with >13.5 GW now installed here, and growth worldwide is forecast to be over tenfold in the next three decades. More than 90% of solar cells are produced from crystalline silicon, and costs have fallen to levels not previously thought possible (< 2.34 US cents/kWh). Other technologies have yet to gain industrial traction and commercial barriers to entry are becoming substantial. Silicon-based solar technology is hence likely to remain dominant and critical to the expansion of renewable energy in the coming decades. Its continuous advancement is essential to accelerate uptake of and impact from green electricity generation worldwide and for fulfilling the UK's obligations under the Paris Agreement. The passivated emitter and rear cells (PERC) architecture is standard for today's silicon solar cells. The PERC technology will reach its practical limits in the next 10 years, with a top forecast commercial efficiency of ~24%. Overcoming this efficiency boundary requires cell architectures that circumvent the limitations of PERC. This project aims to develop a new cell technology to supersede PERC in which the drawbacks of high temperature processing are avoided, the efficiency potential of a single junction is fully exploited, and a route to implement tandem and bifacial architectures is directly possible. This programme brings together teams at the Universities of Oxford and Warwick with world-leading expertise in silicon surface passivation, carrier lifetime, and impurity management for the development of PV devices. The aim is to conduct fundamental work necessary to facilitate a step-reduction in the cost per Watt of PV electricity, thus producing a disruptive change in the advancement of this important renewable energy industry. This project will develop a charged oxide inversion layer (COIL) solar cell by integrating advanced nanoscale thin-film materials to augment the PV potential of a silicon absorber. This novel cell architecture has the potential to overtake the current standard PERC devices, while providing a direct route to use in emerging selective contact, tandem, and bifacial designs. So far, the efficiency of an inversion layer architecture has been exploited only to a limited extent, e.g. in a 18% cell. The potential of the COIL cell extends well beyond this mark, and as high as 28% in a single-junction configuration could be achieved. This project will deliver the fundamental understanding necessary to unlock this potential, exploit the inversion layer concept by engineering highly charged dielectric thin-films, and use these films to produce a prototype cell device.