The public description for this project has been requested but has not yet been received.

Photovoltaic cells (the main component of solar panels) play a large part in an international effort to improve global resilience to inevitable future energy supplies shortages from fossil based fuels. The majority of photovoltaics (PV) are currently manufactured from silicon (1st generation), but the fastest growing market share belongs to Cadmium Telluride (CdTe) thin film PV (a 2nd generation technology). Because CdTe offers many advantages over crystalline silicon such as cost, availability and weight, thin-film CdTe solar cells are the basis of a new PV technology with a major commercial impact on solar energy production. Unfortunately, like silicon, CdTe suffers from the need for substantial energy input during manufacture which means that energy payback period is typically in excess of 2 years. This paradoxical problem with CdTe could be partly overcome if new manufacturing technologies could be developed to substantially reduce process energy and allow for the substitution of alternative materials for their construction, which also supports the objective of reducing their energy footprint. The technological advancements to be made within this project will be based around thin film deposition techniques (sputtering) and novel heat treatment (laser annealing) of these thin film CdTe layers. These processes will be monitored in order to predict and detect faults, minimise the energy requirement and improve process speeds. The project objectives will be reached by bringing together a number of research groups from different disciplines: sustainable manufacturing, photovoltaics and laser processing. The investigators involved from these research groups have extensive experience in their respective fields, access to extended knowledge within their groups, and world-class research facilities. These attributes alongside a carefully planned programme of work with risk management strategies will significantly contribute towards project success. The overall impact of the proposed project in manufacturing will include: substantially reduced energy demand to produce solar panel systems; the potential to initiate UK industry for the manufacture of CdTe PV; cheaper, lighter, more versatile PV for a wide range of competitive applications; and generation of new academic and industrial knowledge in thin film deposition and laser annealing.

Addressing energy storage system economics, technical performance, and design issues requires advanced materials research and development. Material selection will play an essential role in making storage technologies affordable, efficient, and reliable options for tackling the increasing demand for energy and its generation via renewables-based sources. Current battery technology cannot compete with energy densities associated with existing sources such as petrol. In order to compete in the market with petrol-based vehicles, the energy density of batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) will have to greatly improve to enable long-range distance EVs widely affordable. Moreover, despite portable electronic devices becoming increasingly small and flexible, the energy management components tend to lag behind the other components when it comes to performance at small size and high flexibility. Another application area that requires innovative energy storage technologies is for military applications. Batteries integrated into textiles could turn military uniforms into "smart fabrics" providing uniforms with a single power source to ensure efficiency and effectiveness of military operations. Thus, the research outlined in the proposal will be focused on advancing the science and technology for multifunctional carbon nanotube (CNT) textiles for energy storage applications. Particular focus will be placed on the optimization of the cathode structure of Lithium-air (Li-air) batteries and the development of all-textile flexible electrochemical double layer supercapacitor (SC). The novel two- and three-dimensional (2D and 3D) textiles developed during this project will be based on CNT fibers and yarns made by a wet-spinning process and a dry-spinning process respectively. Fibers will be plied, twisted and textured to form several geometries with a wide range of mechanical outcomes. Twisting fibers into yarns and then knitting or weaving the yarns into a fabric will facilitate the formation of well defined porous structures with versatile porosity and ultra-high specific surface area providing a highly conductive, low density scaffold for energy storage. The gained understanding and resulting improvements in device performance could facilitate diverse applications of CNTs: electronic textiles that store energy and fibres having unrivalled toughness. When coupled with an inexpensive process for CNT synthesis, a practical process for making continuous, high performance CNT fibres is likely to result in important new products for an aging fibre industry. Before Li-air batteries can be realized as high-performance, commercially viable products there are still numerous scientific and technical challenges that must be overcome. Considerable difficulties are faced in preparing structures for the precipitation of lithium peroxide at the cathode in the discharge process. If the cathode air electrode is fully blocked, the O2 from the atmosphere cannot be reduced which will prevent battery operation. One milestone for this proposal is to develop and fabricate new nanostructured air cathodes consisting of hierarchical arrangement of CNT fibers in a textile form so as to optimize transport of all reactants to the active catalyst surfaces and provide appropriate space for solid lithium oxide products. It is also anticipated that the project will substantially enhance the energy/power densities of SCs. Although SCs are already used in many fields, more lightweight, compact and mechanically flexible energy storage devices with greater energy densities are required for a significant number of applications from wearable energy that could be incorporated into garments to space applications.

The power demand of the world is staggering! In 2014, the power requirements of the earth were just over 17 TW, and with an ever increasing population, this value is growing every year. It is clear then, that one of greatest challenges facing humanity is the need for sustainable and clean sources of power. Sunlight provides this in abundance, and in recent years there has been a drive to utilise this resource, through the manufacture and installation of photovoltaics (PV) worldwide. The PV industry has experienced massive growth in the last 10 years, in part due to governmental support in the form of subsidies; however this support will not last forever. It is important that once subsidies have disappeared, the installation of PV around the world remains constant, and continues to deliver clean power to the population. Whilst the majority of the installed capacity is based on well-established silicon based solar cells, more and more cost savings can be found in thin film PV technologies, where cadmium telluride (CdTe) and copper indium gallium diselenide (CIGS) solar cells deposited using vacuum deposition methods represent the leading materials which have successfully moved from lab to industry. However, cost reduction is still key, and to reduce costs further, it is important to move away from expensive methods involving vacuum deposition techniques, and towards devices produced using solution chemistry under atmospheric conditions. However, the deposition of thin film solar cells from solution is not easy. Typically, solutions are prepared by dissolving common metal salts in standard solvents, which are then cast onto a supporting substrate and annealed. As a result, undesired impurities from the salt are often included within the film (such as chlorine or oxygen), which is detrimental to solar cell performance. An alternative approach, which has been successfully developed by researchers at IBM, is to dissolve chalcogenides (such as copper sulphide, indium selenide and gallium selenide) in hydrazine, and produce the solar cell from this solution. In this case, hydrazine has been used as it had been the only known solvent to successfully dissolve chalcogenide materials at room temperature. Using this method, it is possible to fabricate CIGS thin films, without inclusion of detrimental impurities, since all the desired constituent elements are in the starting precursors (namely copper, indium, gallium, selenium and sulphur), with no foreign contaminants. Whilst this method has produced the highest solution processed thin film solar cells to date, hydrazine is a highly toxic, carcinogenic and explosive solvent, which makes up-scaling this technique very difficult. With this in mind, this project aims to fabricate highly efficient thin film CIGS solar cells, using the benefits of chalcogenide starting precursors (i.e. no detrimental impurities), whilst using a safer solvent combination without the use of hydrazine. Recent work by the PI at Loughborough has shown that it is possible to dissolve chalcogenides for use in CIGS thin film growth in a solvent combining an amine and a thiol source. The solvents can be used easily without the need of sophisticated protection equipment; they can be used in ambient atmosphere (hydrazine requires a nitrogen filled glove box); and they do not suffer from strict control laws unlike that of hydrazine (anhydrous hydrazine can not be purchased in the UK). The aim of the project is to fabricate 12-14% CIGS solar cells using the technique, combining the benefits of low toxicity solvents with the pure starting precursors used in the hydrazine method.

Solar technology provides an affordable, reliable and secure source of energy. It is a vital part of the energy supply mix needed to mitigate climate change. Module production has increased at an astonishing 35%p.a. compound rate over the past 15 years to 60GW in 2016. Over 12GW of solar modules has already been installed in the UK. The solar research area is rich in scientific and commercial opportunity. The Supergen SuperSolar Hub has established an inclusive and co-ordinated network for the Photovoltaics (PV) research community in the UK. The Hub engages with stakeholders in Universities, Industry, Finance and Government. The SuperSolar Hub has achieved impact by reaching out to the wider community through its Associate and Network membership (589 members). It has also worked with other Hubs on cross-cutting topics such as energy storage and grid integration. A 12 month extension of the Hub will enable it to continue supporting the UK Solar community to April 2018 including 12 events, a further Call for Industrial and International engagement and support for SESSIG (Solar Energy Industry Special Interest Group). We will also maintain UKAS ISO-17025 accreditation for the SuperSolar cell efficiency measurement facility. The Supergen Supersolar Hub comprises eight of the UK's leading University teams engaged in the development of photovoltaic technologies. The Hub was quick to recognise the importance of the development of perovskite solar cells at Oxford University and has funded complementary research programmes in Hub member and Associate member laboratories through its flexible funding. The speed of progress made with perovskite solar cells has been unprecedented and conversion efficiencies of >22% have been reported. The technology has serious commercial potential. World-wide competition is fierce, but the UK effort, co-ordinated by the SuperSolar Hub, has helped to maintain our leadership position. The research programme proposed will address the key issue of perovskite device stability with the ambitious objective of fabricating devices with >20% efficiency and >1,000 hours lifetime and less than 5% degradation when stressed under sunlight. The programme also includes the objective of achieving >25% efficiency with a perovskite/silicon tandem solar device. Achievement of these objectives will generate further valuable IP and take the technology closer to commercialization.