AkzoNobel (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; www.akzonobel.com) has partnered with the Solar Energy Research Institute of Singapore (Seris) at the National University of Singapore in order to explore less costly ways of producing high-efficiency silicon-wafer solar cells. AkzoNobel’s High Purity Metalorganics (HPMO) business supplies electronic materials to the semiconductor and solar industries. Together, AkzoNobel and Seris will investigate how to respond to the photovoltaic industry’s desire to reduce the costs involved in moving toward more-efficient cell architectures. The collaboration has been prompted by the growing expectation that the photovoltaic industry will move toward higher-efficiency, silicon-wafer solar-cell architectures.
"AkzoNobel has developed significant knowledge in this field and together with Seris, will identify how to best reduce the total cost of ownership of solar power," added Dr Bram Hoex, director of the Silicon Materials and Cells Cluster at Seris. "In particular, the partnership aims to explore how to produce more cost-efficient metalorganic precursor grades that will offer the kind of long-term benefits the industry is looking for."
The new precursors should offer an attractive alternative to the current commercially available metalorganics, which are designed for applications other than high-efficiency silicon wafer solar cells. AkzoNobel’s HPMO products are used in a wide range of industrial and consumer products, including lasers, solar cells, LEDs and mobile phones.
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