Wednesday, September 24, 2008
2008 R&D 100 Winner
Over the last three decades, researchers and others have envisioned a time when we might be able to do something as simple, fast, and inexpensive as constructing our houses and buildings with PV (photovoltaic)-coated materials to provide the electricity the buildings would need. That vision will soon be a reality with Hybrid CIGS (copper indium gallium deselenide), an innovative technology for the rapid production of high-quality, low-cost, thin-film CIGS solar cells using the inkjet printing or spraying of liquid precursor inks on substrates in air followed by a fast, energy-efficient printing process. Developed by scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, Colo., and licensed by HelioVolt Corp., Austin, Texas, Hybrid CIGS combines NREL’s metal-organic liquid ink precursor technology with HelioVolt’s field assisted simultaneous synthesis and transfer (FASST) technology to quickly and inexpensively bond the substrates and promote the growth of high-quality grains of CIGS for high-efficiency PV modules.
Hybrid CIGS is the fastest deposition process available for PV and has the potential to drop costs to the long-sought $0.50/W that would make PV competitive with conventional forms of electricity generation. In addition, it could create a new energy paradigm across the world: massively parallel worldwide manufacturing of low-cost PV to provide the world with energy, minimize the use of coal-burning plants, and reverse the trend of increased concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Technology
Technology for the rapid production of thin-film CIGS solar cells
Developers
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
HelioVolt Corp.
