Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics

Abstract

physica status solidi (a)Volume 212, Issue 1 p. 10-12 PrefaceFree Access Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics First published: 14 January 2015 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssa.201570407Citations: 3AboutSectionsPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL This special issue of physica status solidi (a) gathers a selection of papers with relevant contributions in Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics (PV). Most of them highlight relevant results from on-going and recently completed research and innovation EU-funded projects belonging to the EU PV Clusters (www.eupvclusters.eu) initiative. These results were presented at the 2nd EU PV Clusters Workshop and General Assembly “Progress in Photovoltaics and Nanotechnology: from FP7 to Horizon 2020” that was held at the historic building of the University of Barcelona (Barcelona, Spain) on 26–28 November 2013. The EU PV Clusters were launched in 2010 by the initiative of Dr Sophia Fantechi, Programme Officer from Directorate-General for Research & Innovation – Key Enabling Technologies, European Commission. The objective was to bring together EU-funded research and innovation projects in PV technologies from different programmes of the European Commission, to bring forward the global picture of PV research and innovation in Europe, highlight the impact of nanotechnology in this area as a leading-edge opportunity for the European PV industry, and to promote interaction between all relevant actors involved in the development and industrial implementation of PV technologies in Europe. The EU PV Clusters have become since then the most suitable and efficient platform for interaction and promotion of synergic actions between projects and all relevant stakeholders and initiatives at European level. At this moment, the EU PV Clusters represent a huge and active clustering initiative gathering 83 projects that are organised in the different Clusters: - Cluster 1: Wafer-based PV cells - Cluster 2: Thin-film PV cells - Cluster 3: Third Generation PV cells - Cluster 4: Concentrator PV cells - Cluster 5: Innovative installations & grid interconnections - Cluster 6: Production equipments & processes - Cluster 7: Industry support. From them, a selection of 40 on-going projects from different research and innovation programmes of the European Commission (mainly Energy and NMP, but also Marie Curie, ICT, IEE, Infrastructures and Regions), as well as relevant European initiatives, were invited to take part in the 2nd Workshop and General Assembly in Barcelona at the end of 2013. The workshop was built on the success of the first Workshop (held at Aix-les Bains, France, in October 2010) to address the following ambitious objectives: - highlight key results of the projects in the PV field in the EU 7th Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7) and their Technology Readiness Level in a value-chain approach; - identify common research and innovation priorities for bridging the gap between nanotechnology-based knowledge produced by those projects and the successful commercialisation of products enabled by these developments; - give an updated overview of the portfolio of projects at the final stage of FP7 to bring forward the global picture of PV research and innovation in Europe and highlight the impact of nanotechnology in this area; - enable the nanotechnology and PV communities in Europe to consolidate joint collaborations for strategic industrial partnerships and to give key recommendations on future research and innovation needs in the PV domain; - review the existing nanotechnology and PV roadmaps for the industrial development of PV in Europe, to implement them in Horizon 2020, the EU new Framework Programme for Research and Innovation 2014–2020. The Workshop gathered about 100 participants from 16 countries. The presentations given during the meeting highlighted the fact that the European PV research community is at the forefront of global research and innovation activities in all PV technologies. For example, some of the key performance achievements reported were: - HIPOCIGS exceeded its target of 16% efficiency for CuInGaSe2 (CIGS), achieving 18.7%. This has since been extended in the R2RCIGS project to 19.6%. - In SCALENANO 16% has been achieved for electro-deposition CIGS, with its key industrial partner on track for a 2015 market launch. This constitutes up to now the highest efficiency reported for electrodeposited CIGS. - Over 10% efficiency achieved in a-Si solar cells in the FAST TRACK project. - The ESCORT project has achieved 13.6% efficiency for porphyrin-based dye sensitized solar cells. - A 12% efficiency OPV cell has been demonstrated in the X10D project. - 16% efficiency cells were achieved using lead iodide based perovskite materials (19% in October 2014). - There have been a number of important achievements in the development of solution and non-vacuum based processes, which will make significant contributions to the development of cost effective PV processing. The workshop allowed the identification of common research and innovation priorities as key areas for future collaboration, and highlighted a number of issues with potential impact on the future strategies for both technology and industry development: - The challenge of scale-up. Transforming lab-based performance in small samples to large scale is an extremely challenging task, which has often been underestimated. It is essential that ways to address this challenge, to ensure that the globally competitive achievements of the research community are exploited, are identified. - A reduced emphasis on maximising cell and module efficiency. There is an increasing emphasis in striving to understand specific applications and designing “fit for purpose” PV technologies. Product and building integrated PV offers scope to adopt technologies that offer moderate efficiencies, especially if other functionalities are offered (e.g. transparency). So matching bulk silicon efficiencies is not essential. - There is a mismatch between the targets of the PV industry and those of key user sectors. For example, the construction sector considers cost per square metre for BIPV – cost per watt is not a parameter of interest. There needs to be more engagement with these end users to begin to “talk the right language”. - There is the need to continue research at the fundamental level, for consolidation of new and emerging technologies at the nanoscale, as well as to strengthen the establishment of suitable cooperative actions for advanced training of researchers involving all the actors in PV (universities, industry, research centres). - The decline in industrial PV manufacturing activity in Europe has become a major concern. It is considered essential that Europe retains this capability and, as a result, a coherent supply chain. Steps must be taken to address this. This was considered by many as the most important issue to address for the European PV industry. It is recognised that it is not an easy issue to address but it needs to be looked at. It was considered that discussion to identify relevant collaborative actions would be required. During the workshop it was concluded that there is an urgent need to consolidate the link between these key issues and the existing European roadmaps. This has led to a special workshop that was held during the Industrial Technologies 2014 Conference in Athens (Greece), during the Greek Presidency of the EU, in April 2014. Devoted to the success of the EU PV Clusters and thanks to their active members, this special issue of the pss journal collects 29 selected papers, most of them from projects in Clusters 2 and 3, focussing on the development of thin film PV technologies and third generation PV concepts. A relevant contribution from the SCALENANO project is included, with several papers addressing the development of chemical based routes for the synthesis of chalcogenide absorbers (including emerging kesterite Cu2ZnSn(S,Se)4 compounds that are proposed as more sustainable alternative to more mature Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS) technologies), as electrodeposition and new spray-assisted deposition processes (cf. the Review Article by Colombara et al. 1). A strongly complementary solution-based approach designed for the synthesis of kesterite absorbers is reported by Werner et al. 2 from a research funded by the Austrian Research Agency. Relevant SCALENANO results are also reported on the chemical bath deposition of Al-doped ZnO (AZO) layers suitable for their integration as window layers in advanced CIGS devices by Fuchs et al. 3 (paving the way towards the implementation of a full solution based CIGS technology), and on the development of new non destructive methodologies for the electrical assessment of the AZO window layers in state of the art devices based on resonant Raman scattering measurements by Izquierdo-Roca and coworkers 4. Recent results from chalcogenide-based technologies include the investigation of new Zn-poor routes for development of device grade kesterite absorbers from the KESTCELLS project reported by Fairbrother et al. 5 and the detailed analysis and modelling of CIGS absorber-back Mo(S,Se)2 contact interface effects in CIGS based electrodeposited devices from the INDUCIS project reported by Ruiz-Herrero et al. 6. Integration of different kinds of nanostructures as ZnO nanorod arrays is investigated in the papers from Gledhill and coworkers 7 (which reviews different CIGS cell architectures incorporating ZnO nanorods) and from Dimova-Malinovska and coworkers 8 (which deals with the electrochemical deposition of nanorod based antireflective coatings in Si based devices). Nanotechnology solutions and concepts developed in projects NanoPV, PhotoNVoltaics and FastTrack include implementation of nano-particles, nano-layers and nano-rods/whiskers into structures of different types of solar cells 8-11. On the other hand, recent developments in Dye Sensitized Solar Cell technologies involve the inclusion of large Stokes downshifting complexes developed in the EPHOCELL project 12 and the synthesis of new designed corroles-based dyes and their applications for dye-sensitized solar cells achieved in the ESCORT project 13. This special journal issue includes also relevant results from the already completed 20plus project on the analysis of the implementation of a pilot production line for high efficiency thinner (below 100 μm) Si solar cells 14. We hope you will find this special issue of the pss (a) journal dedicated to Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology for Photovoltaics both innovative and inspiring. We thank all the authors for their interest and for their high level papers. This special issue indeed represents the high level commitment and acknowledged position in Europe of the EU PV Clusters. The Guest Editors: Veronica Bermudez, Sophia Fantechi, Bertrand Fillon, Alejandro Pérez-Rodríguez, Alexander G. Ulyashin References 1 D. Colombara, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 88 (2015). 2 M. Werner, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 116 (2015). 3 P. Fuchs, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 51 (2015). 4 C. Insignares-Cuello, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 56 (2015). 5 A. Fairbrother, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 109 (2015). 6 C. Ruiz-Herrero, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 61 (2015). 7 W. Ohm, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 76 (2015). 8 M. Petrov, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 166 (2015). 9 C. Leendertz, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 156 (2015). 10 C. Trompoukis, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 140 (2015). 11 M. Meier, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 30 (2015). 12 M. Kennedy, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 203 (2015). 13 K. Sudhakar, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 194 (2015). 14 B. Terheiden, et al., Phys. Status Solidi A 212, 13 (2015). Citing Literature Volume212, Issue1January 2015Pages 10-12 ReferencesRelatedInformation