Quasi-1D materials for advanced thin-film photovoltaics - LightCell

Project summary

LIGHTCELL aims at developing innovative architectures for thin-film photovoltaics (TF-PV) utilizing inorganic, environmentally stable (Sb2X3, X=S, Se) materials and sustainable fabrication processes with reduced energy consumption. Sb2X3 can be synthesized in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) form, addressing the main factors limiting the efficiency of TF-PV, i.e., recombination of the photogenerated carriers at the grain boundaries. A multidisciplinary consortium of academic and industrial partners aims at developing a scalable technology of sustainable, cost-efficient, and lightweight PV. For faster feedback loop to synthesis, a new tool for the rapid and non-destructive mapping of 2D and 3D crystallographic orientation of quasi-1D materials will be developed. The PV technology developed in LIGHTCELL will be validated in demonstrators by the industrial partners, targeting lightweight building-integrated PV applications, contributing to sustainable green energy production.