Cost remains the key barrier to the widespread uptake of solar cells. Through this project, researchers will help to overcome this barrier by significantly increasing solar cell efficiency, without extra manufacturing costs per cell. This will be achieved by combining the existing fast and inexpensive methods used to make today’s standard p-type silicon solar cells, with the latest advances in higher efficiency n-type silicon cells.

This project aims to help drive down the cost of photovoltaic modules to the point where solar electricity is competitive with other forms of stationary energy. This will be achieved through two parallel paths to realising industry-ready, high efficiency n-type silicon solar cells. N-type silicon has recently been shown to have a much greater tolerance to the efficiency-limiting impurities that are common in standard p-type silicon cells.

Firstly, in collaboration with Trina Solar, researchers will develop low-cost, 20 per cent efficient n-type cells using mono-crystalline silicon, and also improve their standard p-type multi-crystalline silicon solar cells to 19 per cent efficiency. These advances will be based on new ways to prepare and coat the surfaces of n-type solar cells, and the application of novel surface structures to reduce the amount of reflected light.

Secondly, in collaboration with University of New South Wales, researchers will develop advanced, industry-ready n-type solar cells with efficiencies above 22 per cent using innovative but high throughput techniques such as liquid-jet laser doping, and sputtering for thin-film deposition. Successful execution of the project will reduce the price of photovoltaic (PV) modules and accelerate the global uptake of PV. The project will also create innovations for future exploitation, and help to ensure Australian researchers remain at the very forefront of research and development in silicon photovoltaics.

Fact sheet: Industry ready n-type silicon solar cells (PDF 276KB)