The Promise of Solar Energy:
The sun is by far the biggest potential source of renewable energy. Every day more solar energy reaches the earth than the yearly energy consumption of all human activities. Not only is it renewable in the true sense that it will never run out, it is also the one renewable energy that can be used with practically no negative effects on local environments and ecosystems. Solar cells can be placed anywhere, from rooftops in mega-cities to the empty deserts of Sahara. However, the use of solar cells is still rare through out the world. Solar technologies are still too expensive to be competitive with fossil fuels and further innovations are needed before mass-adoption can occur.
The Problem:
Technologies that convert sunlight directly into electricity, so called photovoltaic technologies, are dependent on the use of semi-conductor materials. These materials have unique electrical properties that make the technology possible, but unfortunately these qualities also make them poor at absorbing light. This causes some of the light that reach the solar cell to reflected, rather than absorbed, and thus it cannot be converted into electricity. These reflections drastically reduce the amount of electricity a solar cell can produce. In order to improve the amount of light that is absorbed anti-reflective treatments are used. Although effective anti-reflective treatments exists, they are usually expensive and time-consuming. For most commercial solar cell manufacturers such treatments have not made economic sense, which is why modules generally have high amount of reflected light (see image).
Our Solution:
Black Silicon Solar have developed a new way of increasing the absorption of light in silicon solar cells. Using nanotechnology we can offer a method that drastically increases the absorption of light in a way that is cost-effective. This is achieved by making a beautiful random pattern (see image) rather than one of high symmetry. The technology make the manufacturing of solar cells less complicated and less time-consuming. We believe our technology can lower the costs of solar cells by some margin.
Our patent pending technology is being developed at the Technical University of Denmark's Department of Nanotechnology.
Our patent pending technology is being developed at the Technical University of Denmark's Department of Nanotechnology.
What Makes Us Unique?
The solar industry has worked with anti-reflective treatments for a long time and many different approaches are being used. Our approach has been to develop a method that is low-cost rather than one of high precision. Most research is focused on creating the most optimal anti-reflective treatment possible, often reinventing much of the structure of the solar cell and its production. Today many sophisticated anti-reflective treatments exists, but the high level of complexity of these technologies make them far too expensive to be applicable in the market. Our approach has been to not reinvent the solar cell but rather focus on how to increase the absorption at a cheaper cost. The performance of our anti-reflective coating is very high despite the low cost, and it is the combination of cheap and effective that makes us unique. Our commercial approach also gives our technology a shorter "time to market" than our competitors.
In short: Our technology is effective but not too fancy, and therefore we can make it cheap.
In short: Our technology is effective but not too fancy, and therefore we can make it cheap.
