Development of large area photovoltaic dye cells at 3GSolar

Dye solar cells (DSCs) are a low-cost alternative to photovoltaic silicon and thin film cells on the basis of materials (bulk titania powder in place of high purity semiconductors such as silicon) and process costs (simple screen printing and oven treatment in air in place of vacuum deposition). 3GSolar Ltd., with a novel DSC design based on a robust silver-free current collecting grid, have developed commercial size, sealed prototype glass-based cells of area 225 sq cm and assembled them into multicell prototype PV modules. Performance data are presented for these prototypes, which are on schedule towards pilot production (2010) and industrial production (2011) of cells and modules. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.