Oxford: Method for more efficient solar cells

Development opportunity

Researchers at the University of Oxford have developed a method for treating multicrystalline silicon that, they say, counteracts the most important problem with this material. The work is the subject of a patent application, and Isis Innovation would like to talk to companies interested in developing the commercial opportunity that this represents.

The solar cell market is currently growing at 40 per cent or more per year, with the dominant technology based on multicrystalline silicon. Compared with single crystal material multicrystalline silicon is cheap to produce, but it also contains more electrically active defects

that serve to reduce the overall efficiency of the completed cells. The most significant of these defects is widely acknowledged to be line defects, or dislocations.

The researchers say their  new method couteracts the problem of the electrical activity of  the dislocations. The technique is, they say, low cost, low temperature, and simple to carry out on the surface of the device. Preliminary studies have shown that the electrical effects of dislocations can be modified to a depth of 30 microns or more, while still maintaining the structural integrity of the silicon substrate.