RESEARCHNEWS
Dye sensitized solar cells impress Finland
THE WINNER of the 2010 Millennium Technology Prize is Professor Michael Grätzel from Switzerland for his third generation, low cost, dye-sensitized solar cells. President of Finland Tarja Halonen handed the EUR 800,000 Grand Prize and trophy to Professor Grätzel today at the Grand Award Ceremony at the Finnish National Opera, Helsinki.
“The constraint of solar energy has traditionally been its price. ‘Grätzel cells’ provide a more affordable way of harnessing solar energy. Grätzel’s innovation is likely to have an important role in low-cost, large-scale solutions for renewable energy,” says the President and CEO of Technology Academy Finland, Dr Ainomaija Haarla.
The decision was made by the Board of Directors of Technology Academy Finland, based on the recommendation of the International Selection Committee. The price/performance ratio of Grätzel’s dye-sensitized solar cells is excellent. The technology often described as “artificial photosynthesis” is a promising alternative to standard silicon photovoltaics. It is made of low-cost materials and does not need an elaborate apparatus to
manufacture. Though Grätzel cells are still in relatively early stages of development, they show great promise as an inexpensive alternative to costly silicon solar cells and as an attractive candidate as a new renewable energy source. Grätzel cells, which promise electricity- generating windows and low-cost solar panels, have just made their debut in consumer products.
The two other 2010 Millennium Laureates were awarded each awarded prizes of EUR 150,000 and “Peak” trophies at the Award Ceremony. This year’s Millennium Laureates answer some of the challenges of sustainable development and energy consumption. The initial innovation of Professor Sir Richard Friend, organic Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs), was a crucial milestone in plastic electronics. Electronic paper, cheap organic solar cells and illuminating wall paper are examples of the revolutionary future products his work has made possible. Friend is the Cavendish Professor of Physics at the University of Cambridge.
Stephen Furber, Professor of Computer Engineering at the University of
Thick and thin solar cells A NANO-scale solar cell inspired by the
coaxial cable offers greater efficiency than any previously designed nanotech thin film solar cell by resolving the “thick & thin” challenge inherent to capturing light and extracting current for solar power, Boston College researchers report in the current online edition of the journal Physica Status Solidi. The quest for high power conversion efficiency in most thin film solar cells has been hampered by competing optical and electronic constraints. A cell must be thick enough to collect a sufficient amount of light, yet it needs to be thin enough to extract current.
Physicists at Boston College found a way to resolve the “thick & thin” challenge through a nanoscale solar architecture
Manchester, is the principal designer of the ARM 32-bit RISC microprocessor, an innovation that revolutionised mobile electronics. The ingeniously designed processor enabled the development of cheap, powerful handheld, battery- operated devices. In the past 25 years nearly 20 billion ARM based chips have been manufactured.
“Each of these innovations fulfils the most important of our requirements: they benefit mankind as broadly as possible, both today and in the future,” says Dr Stig Gustavson, Chairman of the Board of Technology Academy Finland.
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based on the coaxial cable, a radio technology concept that dates back to the first trans-Atlantic communications lines laid in the mid 1800s.
“Many groups around the world are working on nanowire-type solar cells, most using crystalline semiconductors,” said co-author Michael Naughton, a professor of physics at Boston College. “This nanocoax cell architecture, on the other hand, does not require crystalline materials, and therefore offers promise for lower-cost solar power with ultrathin absorbers.”
Optically, the so-called nanocoax stands thick enough to capture light, yet its architecture makes it thin enough to allow a more efficient extraction of current, the
researchers report in PSS’s Rapid Research Letters. This makes the nanocoax, invented at Boston College in 2005 and patented last year, a new platform for low cost, high efficiency solar power.
Constructed with amorphous silicon, the nanocoax cells yielded power conversion efficiency in excess of 8 percent, which is higher than any nanostructured thin film solar cell to date, the team reported.
The ultra-thin nature of the cells reduces the Staebler-Wronski light-induced degradation effect, a major problem with conventional solar cells of this type, according to the team, which included Boston College Professors of Physics Krzysztof Kempa and Zhifeng Ren.
www.solar-pv-management.com Issue IV 2010
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