Microwave ovens may help produce lower cost solar cell technology
The same
type of microwave oven technology that most people use to heat up leftover food
has found an important application in the solar energy industry, providing a new way to make
thin-film photovoltaic products with less energy, expense and environmental concerns.
Engineers
have for the first time developed a way to use microwave heating in the synthesis of copper zinc tin
sulfide, a promising solar cell compound that is less costly and
toxic than some solar energy alternatives. All of
the elements used in this new compound are benign and inexpensive, and should
have good solar cell performance.
Several
companies are already moving in this direction as prices continue to rise for some alternative compounds that contain more expensive elements
like indium. With some improvements in its solar efficiency this
new compound should become very commercially attractive.
These
thin-film photovoltaic technologies offer a low cost, high volume approach to
manufacturing solar cells. A new approach is to create them as an ink composed
of nanoparticles, which could be rolled or sprayed - by approaches such as
old-fashioned inkjet printing - to create solar cells.
To
further streamline that process, researchers have now succeeded in using
microwave heating, instead of conventional heating, to reduce reaction times to
minutes or seconds, and allow for great control over the production process.
This "one-pot" synthesis is fast, cheap and uses less energy,
researchers say, and has been utilized to successfully create nanoparticle inks
that were used to fabricate a photovoltaic device.
This
approach should save money, work well and be easier to scale up at commercial
levels, compared to traditional synthetic methods. Microwave technology offers
more precise control over heat and energy to achieve the desired reactions.
Keep checking back for more information on the non-stop improvements being made almost daily in all of the renewable energies.
