GaAs

The US Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) has identified a low-cost way to produce high-efficiency III-V solar cells with dynamic hydride vapor phase epitaxy (D-HVPE). The synthesis involved a gallium arsenide (GaAs) solar cell with a gallium indium arsenide phosphide emitter layer.

UK scientists have developed a solar cell based on a layer of gallium-arsenide just 80 nanometers thick, with similar performance to much thicker devices. It showed excellent resistance to damage from radiation exposure, making it ideal for high-radiation satellite/space applications.

Scientists in the United States have fabricated a triple-junction solar cell that reached 39.5% efficiency – a world record for any type of cell under one-sun illumination. Though relying on materials and processes that are still too costly for most commercial uses, the concept could soon see actual applications in powering satellites and other space-bound technology.

Scientists led by Cambridge University fabricated an ‘ultrathin’ solar cell, just 80 nanometers thick, using gallium arsenide. The III-V cell achieved 9.08% conversion efficiency, and its developers have demonstrated in simulations that it could reach 16% with further optimization. Given its light weight and intrinsic resistance to radiation, the cell could be suitable to power satellites and other applications in space.

The sheer volume of new power lines which will be required to accommodate the rising tide of solar installations ensures copper has been included by the International Energy Agency on its list of minerals which must keep flowing if the energy transition is to stay on course. And it’s not production that’s the potential bottleneck.

Scientists in Canada have discovered a promising technique for the production of gallium-arsenide solar cells. Growing these cells directly onto a silicon substrate is a promising strategy that could cut out some of the technology’s exorbitant production costs. And by making that silicon porous, scientists may have taken a step toward producing high-performance III-V solar cells at a significantly lower cost.

Superior hydrodynamic properties, more robustness in high seas and a much reduced logistics requirement support the case for thin-film over crystalline silicon, pontoon-mounted alternatives, according to an Indo-Italian research group.

A team at the U.S. National Renewable Energy Laboratory has come up with a new process that would reduce the production cost of highly expensive – and highly efficient – gallium arsenide cells.

Researchers from Canada have unveiled a new germanium deposition process which is said to eliminate threading dislocations and be significantly cheaper than previous approaches. The scientists say their technique creates nanovoids on the surface of the germanium layer which can attract and annihilate undesirable dislocations.

Scientists at Germany’s Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems have broken two of their own records for cell efficiency, working with silicon and III-V material tandem cells. The institute hit 34.1% on a triple junction cell using wafer bonding technology and 24.3% by directly depositing III-V layers onto a silicon solar cell.