Page 33 - UD Research Magazine Vol5-No2

IEC established several milestones in thin-film technology. It was the first laboratory to get 10 percent efficiency out of the materials, and it pioneered the “roll-to-roll” manufacturing process, exploiting the flexibility of thin films to develop a continuous rollout and cut production costs.
Under Böer’s leadership, the IEC also built a thin-film solar cell demonstration project—a small house known as Solar One that had a sharply angled roof and still sits off South Chapel Street in Newark.
The house showed the practical poten- tial of thin-film and passive solar technol-
to Shafarman. The panels, each marked with the date of development and other information, are lined up for students and others to examine and compare.
The display and extensive research demonstrate that solar energy progress takes time. Some ideas produce a lot of hype, which “most of the time doesn’t pan out,” said Steven Hegedus, senior scientist at IEC and associate professor
of electrical and computer engineering who has worked in solar research for more than 30 years.
“Remember, it takes 10 years or more for a technology to go from the laboratory
absorbs. Seventy-five percent, in other words, goes unused.
Industry leaders often turn to IEC for help with performance issues or plans for a new product, and IEC has a strong team of scientists, graduate-level students and postdoctoral fellows with the training
and experience to assist them. Shafarman said he and others often take calls from businesses looking for potential employees with strong solar credentials.
The IEC, directed since 1996 by physi- cist Robert Birkmire, professor of materials science and engineering, also participates in many Department of Energ y initiatives
With support from Delmarva Power
and Light, IEC built Solar One, a thin- film solar cell demonstration project, in 1973. It was the first experimental house to convert sunlight into both heat and electricity for domestic use and drew thousands of visitors.
Thin-film solar cells, the focus of research at IEC, are much lighter than
other materials and can be fabricated on glass or flexible foils. Above shows thin- film solar cells on glass fabricated at IEC. IEC has established several milestones in thin-film technology.
ogies, producing both electricity and heat and—in the process—drawing thousands of visitors to Newark after its completion in 1973. The novelty made headlines with NBC News and Long Island, N.Y.’s News- day, to name a few outlets, and Popular Science called it “the most technologically advanced solar house now in existence.” Its glory days are past and the solar
panels are gone, but the Solar One house still stands as an unassuming testament to the trailblazing work by UD researchers and their students.
At the IEC, an extensive and varied collection of solar panel samples is on display—probably the most substantial such collection in the world, according
to full-scale production,” he said. “There’s a lot of testing, validation, optimization. Making something once in the lab is hard. Making it day in, day out, thousands of modules a day, is really hard.”
But incremental progress has been a constant, he said.
Thin-film efficiency has doubled—to more than 20 percent, Shafarman said. But it still lags behind the standard silicon wafers, which are closer to 25 percent.
Efficiency is an important problem for researchers and industry. When a system is said to be 25 percent efficient, it means it is converting a quarter of the power it
and collaborates with other universities and national labs.
“There is still a need for new ideas,” Shafarman said, “and new ways to make solar cells with low-cost materials.”
Böer urges students to continue that quest and pursue a comprehensive under- standing of the science and the systems.
“Look at the materials, the systems, understand the physics behind it,” he said. “Study solid state physics and solar energy. Study electrical energy and electrical engi- neering. Study solar engineering.”
And help the world catch more rays.
Learnmore:www.udel.edu/iec + www.udel.edu/researchmagazine |31
KATHY F. ATKINSON
CHRISTOPHER P. THOMPSON