News

25 September 2009

 

QuantaSol and Houston collaborate on multi-junction cells

UK-based solar cell developer QuantaSol Ltd is to exploit dilute-nitride materials in a bid to improve the conversion efficiency of its multi-junction devices.

The company has just signed an exclusive licensing deal with the University of Houston in Texas, and will exploit materials and processing technology described in patents awarded to Alex Freundlich from the university.

For example, Freundlich’s US patent 6,372,980, awarded in April 2002, describes a two-terminal tandem solar cell in which the quantum wells in the structure are adapted to extend the photo-absorption range further into the infrared spectrum.

In the patent’s claims, Freundlich mentions the possible use of InGaAsN, GaAsN and InAsPN alloys in the quantum wells that convert sunlight hitting the cell into electric current.

“We’ve already tested the benefits of using Houston’s dilute nitride materials in the way we engineer quantum wells in our cells,” said Keith Barnham, the researcher at Imperial College, London who is the co-founder & chief scientific officer at QuantaSol. “The exclusive worldwide licence is a strategic move to ensure we maintain our performance advantage, and we will work with our colleagues in Houston to develop the techniques further in commercial production in 2010.”

QuantaSol’s own research team produced a record-breaking single-junction cell earlier this year, measured at 28.3% efficiency by a team at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems.

Next year, the firm (which was spun out of Imperial College in June 2007) is aiming to manufacture triple-junction cells for the emerging concentrator photovoltaics (CPV) market.

As well as helping to improve cell efficiencies, QuantaSol says that the use of dilute-nitride materials will allow it to reduce the number of quantum-well layers in each junction of the multi-junction cells – making for a simpler, lower-cost manufacturing process and thinner cells.

Chris Shannon, who was recently installed as QuantaSol’s new CEO following the departure of Kevin Arthur, said that the deal with Houston - the first major collaboration announced by the company - will assist in the drive towards volume cell production in 2010: “It indicates just how close the company is getting to being able to produce very efficient devices in production quantities.”

See related item:

QuantaSol raises $2m in funding

Search: QuantaSol CPV Triple-junction solar cells

Visit: www.quantasol.com

Visit: http://patft.uspto.gov

The author Michael Hatcher is a freelance journalist based in Bristol, UK.