LIGHTCELL aims at developing innovative architectures for thin-film photovoltaics (TF-PV) utilizing inorganic, environmentally stable (Sb2X3, X=S, Se) materials and sustainable fabrication processes with reduced energy consumption. Sb2X3 can be synthesized in a quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) form, addressing the main factors limiting the efficiency of TF-PV, i.e., recombination of the photogenerated carriers at the grain boundaries. A multidisciplinary consortium of academic and industrial partners aims at developing a scalable technology of sustainable, cost-efficient, and lightweight PV. For faster feedback loop to synthesis, a new tool for the rapid and non-destructive mapping of 2D and 3D crystallographic orientation of quasi-1D materials will be developed. The PV technology developed in LIGHTCELL will be validated in demonstrators by the industrial partners, targeting lightweight building-integrated PV applications, contributing to sustainable green energy production.

Objective: LIGHTCELL aims to demonstrate a new generation of all inorganic, environmentally-friendly and stable, quasi-1D Sb2S(Se)3 solar cells featuring efficiencies beyond state of the art, providing a green alternative to the commercial CdTe thin-film solar cells.

Aimed results:

1. To develop novel strategies for synthesizing solar absorbers with vertical quasi-one-dimensional (quasi-1D) motifs and intrinsically passive GBs (1D-Sb2S(Se)3);
2. To implement rapid, non-destructive polarized Raman microscopy for 2D and 3D crystallographic orientation mapping of solar absorbers;
3. To demonstrate all inorganic solar cell devices based on quasi-1D absorbers with efficiency up to 15% on a lab scale and 10% on a large-scale produced in an industrial environment.