|
CZTS is One Big Step Closer To Becoming a Viable Thin Film Competitor
Copper-zinc-tin-sulfur CZTS-based technology uses materials that avoid heavy metals and are readily available at a lower cost. Through the utilization of these materials, the project's goal is the creation of next-generation photovoltaic technology that lowers the cost of solar-produced electricity, enabling the renewable energy to become an everyday alternative to carbon-based sources. The new solar cells convert light into electricity using a semiconductor material made of copper, zinc, tin, and sulfur--all abundant elements--as well as the relatively rare element selenium (CZTS). Reaching near-commercial efficiency levels is a "breakthrough for this technology," says Matthew Beard, a senior scientist at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, who was not involved with the work.
Researchers at IBM have increased the efficiency of a CZTS solar cell made largely from cheap and abundant materials by over 40 percent. According to an article published in journal Advanced Materials, the new efficiency is 9.6 percent set in Feb 2011, was a major improvement over the previous record of 6.7 percent for CZTS solar cells, and near the level needed for commercial solar panels. The IBM researchers are also investigating ways to improve the efficiency of the new solar cells, with the goal of reaching about 12 percent in the laboratory --high enough to give manufacturers confidence that they could be mass produced and still have efficiency levels of around 10 percent, says David Mitzi, at IBM Research, who led the work. Beard recommends targeting 15 percent efficiency in the lab, and Mitzi says this should be possible by improving other parts of the solar cell besides the main CZTS material, or by doping the semiconductor with other trace elements (which is easy with the ink-based process).
The IBM solar cells also have the double advantage of being made with readily available materials and using an inexpensive ink-based process. This combination allows the IBM solar cells to become a viable alternative to existing "thin film" solar cells. The leading thin film manufacturer, First Solar uses a material that includes the rare element tellurium. Daniel Kammen, director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, says the presence of tellurium could limit the total electricity such cells could produce because of its rarity. While total worldwide electricity demand will likely reach dozens of terawatts (trillions of watts) in the coming decades, thin film solar cells will likely be limited to producing about 0.3 terawatts, according to a study he published last year. In contrast, the new cells from IBM could produce an order of magnitude more power. The new CZTS cells could also have advantages compared to cells made of copper indium gallium and selenium (CIGS), which are just starting to come to market. That's because the indium and gallium in these cells is expensive, and while the selenium used in the IBM cell is rarer than indium or gallium, its cost is a tenth of either. A new ink-based manufacturing process solves some of the key challenges to making efficient CZTS cells. A common approach to making any type of high-quality solar material is to dissolve a precursor substance in a solvent. This isn't possible with the CZTS cells because the zinc compounds required in the new cells aren't soluble. To get around this, the researchers used a combination of dissolved materials and suspended particles, creating a slurry-like ink that could then be spread over a surface that's been heat-treated to produce the final materials. The particles prevent the material from cracking and peeling as the solvent evaporates. What's more, commercial cells will likely use different materials for conducting electrons. The experimental cells used indium tin oxide, which is limited by the availability of indium. But Mitzi says several other conductors could work as well.
One key next step is to completely replace the selenium in the solar cells with sulfur. For the record-efficiency cell, the researchers replaced half of the selenium used in a previous experimental cell. If all of the selenium could be replaced, the cells could, in theory, supply all of the electricity needs of the world. (Provided there are suitable means for storing and redistributing power for use at night or on cloudy days.)
IBM will have to make it work. Solar Frontier and IBM have agreed to collaborate on the joint development of (CZTS) thin-film photovoltaics technology. This pairs the Japan-based CIS thin-film company's development and manufacturing expertise with Big Blue's strong R&D capabilities. “Solar Frontier’s extensive experience in the research and development of CIS thin-film photovoltaic technologies has delivered numerous conversion efficiency breakthroughs that have resulted in world-class records,” said CTO Satoru Kuriyagawa. “We are interested in exploring CZTS for its evolutionary compatibility with our CIS thin-film technology. The goals of the project correspond with Solar Frontier’s mission to combine both economical and ecological solar energy solutions.” "Solar Frontier is one of the world’s leading experts in CIS-based thin-film solar panels, and we look forward to working with them.” said T.C. Chen, VP of science and technology at IBM Research. “Adding Solar Frontier’s deep expertise in thin-film-based solar device technology to this project will strengthen the collaborative effort we began in this area with Tokyo Ohka Kogyo for developing chemistry and tooling expertise; and more recently adding DelSolar’s solar module and manufacturing expertise. This team will significantly increase our ability to create CZTS photovoltaic technology that achieves sustainable grid parity." The CZTS joint development program will mainly take place at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, NY.
The new type of solar cell will have several competitors, Beard says. For example, non-crystalline silicon is cheaper to make than crystalline silicon, and the efficiency of the resulting cells is improving. Researchers are also finding ways to use less expensive grades of crystalline silicon including thin film silicon and large-scale production has decreased the overall cost of producing such cells, making it difficult for new solar materials to gain a foothold. However, if anybody can do it – IBM can.
To find related articles - use our built-in / Google Powered site searching tool below. Just type in a few key words or phrases to search this site, our blogs, our Facebook fan page and other sites for related articles.  Custom Search
|