SunSic

The main goal of SunSiC is to introduce intermediate band materials as a basis for novel high-efficiency single junction multiple band gap solar cell technology in Norway. This is a “New Concepts” researcher project funded by the EnergiX program in the Research Council of Norway.

 The SunSiC project aims to demonstrate that it is possible to generate an intermediate band (IB) in cubic SiC. Such an electronic band would transform the large band gap semiconductor SiC into a multiple (three) band gap semiconductor without introduction of multiple junctions or quantum dots. The theoretical efficiency of IB photovoltaics is more than 60%, and the processing is potentially quite easy and cheap. If this concept is proven in stage 1 of the project, the second stage will focus on optimizing important material properties, particularly the life time of charge carriers. The project idea is based on a new synthesis process at Linköping University, where large single crystals of cubic SiC can be produced for the first time. We will have access to this material in the project, and thus have the possibility to search for IB behavior at a very early stage. The material obtained from our collaborating partners will be doped using ion implantation, and a variety of characterization and modeling tools will be used to identify an IB and to establish the connection between processing parameters, detailed structural and electronic materials properties and the potential of using SiC with IB as a new solar cell technology.


Project team:
SINTEF Materials and Chemistry:

Ole Martin Løvvik (Project leader)

Spyros Diplas

Annett Thøgersen

Patricia A. Carvalho
SINTEF ICT: Daniel N. Wright
University of Oslo: Bengt Svensson
Linköping University: Mikael Syväjärvi
Saint-Gobain Ceramic Materials AS: Pål Runde

 

Published Results

  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. Atomic scale simulations with focus on Si, SiC and thermoelectricity. Talk at SINTEF Bærekraftig energiteknologi; 2014-01-17.
  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. Creating an intermediate band in SiC – SunSiC. Talk at the University of Oslo; 2014-06-26
  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. Kan en voksende verdensbefolkning få nok ren energi?. Talk at University of Oslo; 2014-02-05
  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. Efficient exploitation of the sun with intermediate band gap in silicon carbide. Talk at the Status på Stratos meeting; 2013-10-10 – 2013-10-10
  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. Materials characterization and modeling down to the atomic scale. Talk at SINTEF ICT; 2013-10-22
  • Løvvik, Ole Martin. SunSiC- a new project on SiC based intermediate band solar cells. Talk at SINTEF; 2013-09-25
  • Swang, Ole; Løvvik, Ole Martin. Atomic scale simulations at SINTEF Materials and Chemistry. Talk at the UiO Computational Physics seminar; 2013-10-18
  • Mikael Syväjarvi, Quanbao Ma, Valdas Jokubavicius, Augustinas Galeckas,Jianwu Sun, Xinyu Liu, Mattias Jansson, Peter Wellmann, Margareta Linnarsson,Paal Runde, Bertil Andre Johansen, Annett Thøgersen, Spyros Diplas,Patricia Almeida Carvalho, Ole Martin Løvvik, Daniel Nilsen Wright, Alexander Yu Azarov, Bengt G. Svensson. Cubic silicon carbide as a potential photovoltaic material. Solar Energy Materials & Solar Cell. DOI: doi:10.1016/j.solmat.2015.08.029 (2015)
  • Quanbao Ma, Augustinas Galeckas, Alexander Azarov, Annett Thøgersen, Patricia Carvalho, Daniel N. Wright, Spyros Diplas, Ole M. Løvvik, Valdas Jokubavicius, Xinyu Liu, Jianwu Sun, Mikael Syväjärvi and Bengt G. Svensson. Boron-implanted 3C-SiC for intermediate band solar cells. Proceedings ICSCRM 2015.

SunSic in the Media:

Activities in SunSiC:

  • 28th May 2015: NACSIC Workshop, Oslo
  • 4th December 2014: Joint project meeting, Oslo
  • 4th September 2014: Joint project meeting, Oslo
  • 10th June 2014: Joint project meeting, Linköping
  • 9th January 2014: Kick-off meeting, Oslo