Turkish scientists produced a silicon-based domestic flexible solar cell
Faculty members Assoc. Dr. Mustafa Kulakcı and Prof. Dr. Uğur Serincan received support for the project titled "Growth, Fabrication and Characterization of High Efficiency Flexible Thin Film Gallium Arsenic Solar Cells Using Silicon Substone" within the scope of TÜBİTAK 1003 Priority Areas R&D Projects Support Programme.
After about 3 years of work, Turkish scientists, who developed III-V group flexible thin film solar cells, normally produced on gallium arsenic substrate (base material), on silicon substrates, aim to contribute to the National Space Program with a locally designed project at ESTU Nanosize Research Laboratory. .
Earning a patent, Kulakcı and Serincan worked with the support of the Ministry of Industry and Technology, the Turkish Patent and Trademark Office, the International Federation of Inventors' Association (IFIA), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the European Patent Office (EPO) and the Turkish Technology Team Foundation. He also won the gold medal at the 6th Istanbul International Invention Fair ISIF'21 held in Turkey.
The coordinator of the project, Associate Professor of the Physics Department. Dr. Mustafa Kulakcı told Anadolu Agency (AA) that although they are expensive, gallium arsenic-based III-V group flexible solar cells are used in satellites, air and space vehicles, and military vehicles.
Earlier, Prof. Dr. He gave the following information about the project they created with Serincan:
"In the production of flexible solar cells, instead of expensive gallium arsenic, we used silicon that is very cheap and the substrate technology is much more advanced. Gallium arsenic is a very expensive material when you compare it with silicon. As part of the project, the flexible thin solar cells that we produced by removing the silicon from the gallium arsenic base, have almost comparable performance to each other. We believe that with the studies we have carried out, we have opened a new cost-effective avenue for large-scale production in the field of photovoltaic technologies of group III-V. Gallium arsenic-based thin film flexible cells will be a very important technology in the future. Depending on the cell technology, the production cost of group III-V solar cells is approximately 85-90 percent comes from the substrate."
"Both light and flexible, can be opened and folded like a roll"
Kulakcı stated that gallium arsenic (GaAs)-based ones are very expensive in solar cell applications on earth, and that silicon cells with a very low cost are used in earth applications.
Explaining that they produced gallium arsenic flexible thin-film solar cell out of low-cost silicon to be used in satellite, space, aviation and military technology systems in their projects, Kulakcı continued as follows:
"The cost between two substrates varies depending on the size, but can range from 10 times to hundreds of times. The gallium resource is very limited. The photovoltaic (electricity generation with solar panels and cells) sector, optoelectronics (the science that studies the conversion of light energy and electrical energy) sector and telecommunications sector are limited. Gallium has to share its source of arsenic. It also increases prices. We produced this cell technology, which is very critical to finding a solution to this vicious circle, using much cheaper silicon. We paved the way for producing an expensive technology at a lower cost.
III-V group flexible thin film cells are much more functional than substrate-based conventional cells. It is both light and flexible and can be opened and folded like a roll. Its temperature and radiation tolerance is much higher than its substrate counterparts due to its thinness. Efficiency is also very high. This is the first time we have produced these flexible thin-film cells, which are normally produced on gallium arsenic substrates, on silicon. The patenting process in Turkey has been completed. We are about to obtain a foreign patent."
Kulakcı stated that the improvement processes continue to take the project one step further.
"These are critical technologies"
In the study, Prof. Dr. Uğur Serincan, on the other hand, mentioned the importance of the National Space Program for Turkish scientists and stated that they can support these studies with their projects.
Pointing out that energy is one of the most important values in the world, Serincan said:
"It is very important to be able to produce gallium arsenic-based III-V group flexible thin-film cells and at the same time reduce costs. These are critical technologies because they have both civilian and military applications. When you reduce the cost and increase the amount produced, the applications in the civilian field can also expand. The III-V group flexible thin-film cells can be expanded. Thin-film solar cells are used in satellite, aerospace or military fields due to their high cost and limited production.We paved the way for these cells to be produced both cheaply and on a larger scale, as well as domestically. It was very important to integrate with existing silicon technologies by reducing the cost. This is critical "We have reached the point with our project. We have another work in the continuation of the project. We want to further increase the efficiency of this technology, which we have developed over silicon. It has been a great gain for our country."
Prof.Dr. Uğur SERİNCAN academic publications
akademik.eskisehir.edu.tr