PV of the future: solar panels folding
The Institute of materials for electronics and magnetism of the National Research Council of Parma (Imem-CNR) has developed a process for the production of solar cells that could be very useful for the production of photovoltaic systems to be integrated in ' building. It is a production process of solar cell thin film (Thin Film) that operates at low temperature and allows the use of a wide range of substrates and which was published in the journal "Applied Physics Letters".
"This polycrystalline material, known by the acronym of CIGS (Copper-based technology, indium, gallium and selenium, Ed.) - Says Massimo Mazzer dell'Imem-CNR - is ideal for photovoltaic applications mainly because 'absorbs light very efficiently, but it is however complex to be synthesized in the form of thin film and so far the industrial-scale production of solar modules based on CIGS is therefore not taken off due to the high costs. "
Researchers at the National Research Council have developed a process that allows you to deposit thin films of CIGS with a single step at much lower temperatures of about 270 ° C of the lower limit declared by other research centers and industrial approximately 400 ° C in around the world, controlling the thermodynamic properties of the clouds of atoms generated by electrical impulses that vaporize metals up to optimize the formation and growth of the thin film.
"In terms of efficiency of 15% is obtained by the new process is in line with the best results achieved so far on an industrial scale but we expect to be able to further bridge the gap with the current world record of 20.3% obtained in the laboratory by researchers the STW in Stuttgart. One of the main advantages - continues Mazzer - that result from the destruction of temperatures is the possibility to produce solar cells of CIGS thin film on a wide range of substrates, including metal strips or flexible plastic materials, and made, for example, products PV to be integrated in the building, where they consume about two-thirds of all the electricity distributed by the network. "
The research, which had the support of the Ministry of Economic Development under the Industria 2015 program launched in 2007 by the then Minister Bersani, however, is not the only one in Italy that aims to produce panels optimized for getting rid of the building " stiffness "of the silicon.
In Rome, at the University of Tor Vergata, in fact, the Polo Organic Solar Lazio Region (CHOSE from Center for Hybrid and Organic Solar Energy) is investigating technologies organic and hybrid organic-inorganic applied to photovoltaic cells that allow them to produce photovoltaic systems on curved surfaces, or on elements such as translucent glass walls and windows, giving designers architectural elements "active" can produce energy and especially reversing the dialectic that sees today's design the building to fit photovoltaic systems, thus overcoming the limitations stylistic and architectural imposed by silicon panels for standard use.
18/10/2012
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Translated via software
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Source:
Italian version of ReteArchitetti.it