UK, India partner on excitonic solar cell research

To meet their future energy needs, the UK and Indian governments said today they are launching two new photovoltaic research projects aimed at bringing down the cost of solar energy systems, while making them more stable and efficient.

The Research Councils UK and the government of India’s Department of Science and Technology have each committed up to £5 million ($7.8 million) over three years.

The research is expected to come from UK and India universities as well as companies from both countries, including lead institutions UK’s Loughborough University, India’s National Physical Laboratory and IIT Bombay.

Loughborough University has been involved in other cleantech research including piloting the production of ceramic components for use in fuel cell systems (see Rolls-Royce makes U.S. fuel cell acquisition).

India’s Department of Science and Technology has been focused on researching a number of cleantech efforts including a battery that uses nanotechnology to make it thinner than a piece of paper, along with jatropha plantation and bio-diesel production (see India-Japan project develops paper-thin batteries and Could biodiesel solve rural India's job woes?).

The first project, called “Advancing the efficiency and production potential of excitonic solar cells,” is expected to look at excitonic solar cells, including developing materials, device structures, materials processing, and photovoltaic panel engineering. The project builds on existing research.

Excitonic solar cells are a non-conventional solar cell class based on organic and nanostructured materials.

The second project, titled “Stability and performance of photovoltaics,” is looking to remove known bottlenecks in materials supply, as well as developing new less costly, more efficient device designs compared to current solar cells.