All-oxide photovoltaic cells
Silicon-based PV cells have been remarkably successful, and the solar energy industry is growing at a rate of 40-70 % per annum. However, the global energy generation from solar radiation amounts to merely 0.1 % of the energy currently used. To contribute a significant fraction to the total energy demand, a radically new disruptive technology is needed. The EU-funded project ALLOΧIDEPV was launched to develop this new disruptive photovoltaic technology for electricity generation. The project partners are exploring innovative solar cell concepts based on cheap materials that have emerged over the last decade as promising alternatives to expensive inorganic semiconductors. All-oxide PV cells and modules are attractive due to the chemical stability, non-toxicity and abundance of many metal oxides. Today, conductive oxides are widely used as front electrodes in various solar cell structures but only a few as light absorbers. The development of such functional metal oxides lies at the heart of the project. ALLOXIDEPV researchers have developed a series of combinations of metaloxide semiconductors suitable for PV cells. The new materials have been tested in combinatorial solar cell libraries to investigate their properties under real-world operating conditions. Data mining tools revealed complex correlations between the material properties and device performance. The test results have significantly improved current understanding of the physics underlying the operation of all-oxide PV devices. Through the systematic and exhaustive exploration of multi-component metal oxides, ALLOXIDEPV researchers hope to overcome the limits of known oxides and enable efficient, low-cost and durable solar energy conversion.
Keywords
All-oxide, photovoltaic cells, metal oxide semiconductors, silicon, solar energy
