NanoPhoSolar · Innovative, environmentally friendly nanophosphor down converter materials for enhanced solar cell efficiency that will reduce energy production costs and increase cell lifetime

The NanoPhoSolar project aims to overcome the limitations relating to the efficiency and performance of a range of photovoltaic (PV) systems by developing a transparent NanoPhosphor down converting material capable of absorbing Ultra Violet (UV) and short wavelength visible light and re-emitting in the more useful longer wavelength visible spectrum(range 525-850nm).This will enable the efficiency of Photovoltaic (PV) cells to be increased by an additional 10% for silicon PV and ≥25.8% for Cigs or cadmium telluride PV and potentially increase system lifetime.By doing this, the PV system created will offer greatly improved environmental performance due to capture of a larger proportion of the incident visible spectrum.This will lead to significant economic and societal benefits to consumers and manufacturers.The SME consortium target a total in-process coating technology market penetration of 5.5% when applied in the manufacturing process and 0.25% when as applied to existing installed PV systems within a 5 year period post project, achieving direct annual sales of over €66 million, ~470 new jobs and annual CO2 emissions savings of 154,697 tonnes per annum.The project results are expected to benefit other SMEs in the PV and materials processing industry sectors.