Lund, Sweden On April 22, Sol Voltaics AB, a leading Swedish manufacturer of advanced materials, has demonstrated the success of its nanowire technology in calibration and orientation of thin films on a major breakthrough in solar energy. This achievement underscores the most important technological milestone to date for solar nanowire manufacturing, paving the way for 27% and greater conversion efficiencies for photovoltaic (PV) modules - a move that will make today's solar module conversion efficiencies up to 50% .
Nanowires exhibit promising properties on solar power, but nanowires are very difficult to calibrate due to their high aspect ratio and material properties. By controlling the alignment and orientation of nanowires centimeter on standard-size wafers, Sol Voltaics has taken an important step forward in the application of solar films to tandem PV modules for commercial production.
"Today's announcement marks an important moment for Sol Voltaics and the global solar industry," said Erik Smith, Sol Voltaics' CEO. "Gallium arsenide (GaAs) nanowires have come to the forefront of the industry and offer great promise for increasing the efficiency of solar modules far beyond today's levels." We have taken the nanowire calibration in-film The largest step towards commercial scale manufacturing of solar nanowire films will allow solar panel manufacturers to dramatically increase the power generation of their products. "
In a 2015 Sol Voltaics release, Fraunhofer-ISE confirmed the company's world record for epitaxial growth of GaAs nanowire solar cells achieving 15.3% of photovoltaic conversion efficiency. The latest milestone following this message is that these batteries were recently retested by Fraunhofer and showed little or no battery degradation for the first 18 months after the initial test, further confirming the technical reliability of the technology.
In addition to the breakthrough in nanowire calibration, Sol Voltaics' Aerotaxy â„¢ production technology has been developed for several generations. This patented process allows the production of cost-effective III-V nanowire solar cells by continuous gas phase processes.
"We have made several significant advances in the past few quarters and that momentum continues in several ways," Smith said. "In fact, we still have some remaining obstacles to overcome in the process of becoming commercialized, but we are very confident that we can deliver a truly innovative energy solution for those who have been challenged by the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, the COP21 Summit and others The global solution to the challenge of climate change and the creation of a clean energy economy calls for solutions. "