CA21148
Background & Objectives
Background
The European Union (EU) has set an ambitious goal towards decarbonising energy production and achieving key climate change related objectives by 2030/2050. Photovoltaic (PV) solar cell (SC) technologies have already made significant progress and are on track towards meeting more than 5% of global energy demand by 2025. Moving forwards PV is recognized as one of the key renewable energy solutions to fulfil the climate targets. Crystalline silicon (c-Si) based cells are currently the dominant technology for terrestrial solar energy conversion due to their high efficiency (>20%), low cost (<0.5 $/W), and good reliability (~30 years). The first generation of thin film technologies, such as CdTe and Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGS), have reached comparable efficiency to c-Si and have become industrially established. These thin film technologies maintain one substantial advantage, requiring ~100 times thinner absorber material and less energy to be used in the manufacturing process compared to Si (≥100 μm).
The benefits of these thin film devices have led to investigation of alternatives which may have improved properties. The EU Strategic Energy Technology Plan advocates that additional research and development on emerging PV is needed to diversify the portfolio of incumbent solar technologies. The emergence of new PV applications in the society requires the design of materials and devices with a different set of properties.
An emerging class of highly promising PV materials, currently under widespread investigation in the PV community, are inorganic chalcogenide compounds such as (Bi,Sb)2(S,Se)3, Se, SnS, Cu(Bi,Sb)S2, Cu2SnS3, as well as the highly stable, lead-free chalcogenide perovskites BaZrS3, SrZrS3 and related compounds and alloys. There are several noticeable features that make these emerging inorganic materials scientifically interesting and distinct from traditional thin-film technologies:
- Abundant non-toxic constituent elements
- Highly absorbing with controllable band gap
- Defect tolerant compounds
- Flexible device architecture
All the above advantages, together with the rapid development of device efficiencies show the tremendous potential of these emerging chalcogenide-related compounds.
Objectives
The RENEW-PV action is uniquely specialized on emerging inorganic chalcogenide PV. This gives a strong motivation to create an international research networking platform with the focus on development and deployment of these PV materials. This network will provide the base to establishing new ground-breaking technologies that will feed the innovation cycle with independent industry supply chains, foster market diversification and strengthen the PV value chain worldwide.
Research Coordination Objectives
- Facilitate access to equipment and infrastructure available in the Action, facilitating Short-Term Scientific Mission (STSM) and exchange of research results, and knowledge sharing.
- Evaluate and propose new research and development areas and technological innovations in new chalcogenide materials.
- Identify the main economic obstacles, problems in the supply chain, environmental hotspots as well as legislative restrictions that need to be considered in order to ensure the successful introduction of new chalcogenide materials in the real market.
- Identify the most promising applications of newly synthesized emerging chalcogenides based on achieved and required product properties, as well as their environmental and health aspects in terms of their life cycle.
- Establish strong links with international business networks through networking and information exchange to assess the suitability of developed technologies for market transition.
- Disseminate information about the goals, objectives and performance to both a specific industry audience and a broad public audience through electronic platforms and social media.
- Promote the EU research groups' contribution to the emergence of new value chains and the goal to take a leading position on a global level, supporting the internationalization of third countries outside Europe.
Capacity-Building Objectives
- Promote interdisciplinary work streams using synergies between the participating groups for an efficient exchange of knowledge.
- Contribute to the training of young researchers, encouraging the participation of female researchers, in new technologies for emerging chalcogenide materials, favouring the mobility of researchers and promoting the organization of virtual schools, workshops and periodic seminars.
- Ensure the soundness and visibility of the Action’s outputs via specific dissemination activities, such as: creating and updating a dedicated website, creating video footage of the most important achievements, publishing joint scientific and technical articles, and inviting/engaging industry to the Action.
- Establish a multidisciplinary network of research laboratories in Europe and internationally for a long-term collaborative activity and preparation of future more specific collaboration projects. Set up a process for assembling scientific information on properties of emerging chalcogenide materials for solar energy conversion and build a reliable and efficient modelling methodology. Establish a network of existing and new method-oriented centres where the new method developments and integration can be tested and demonstrated.
- Promote scientific excellence of researchers in all career levels via a joint virtual school, including European Research Council (ERC) grant mentoring programmes, and women in science mentoring.
