Innovation driven education and science in modern photovoltaics via Norwegian-Chinese collaboration

The present project (IDEAS) was carried out in the frame of the CHINOR program and aimed to facilitate the development of long-term relations between the Norwegian photovoltaic (PV) community - represented by the University of Oslo (UiO) and the Institute for Energy Technology (IFE), and strong internationally recognized partners in China - at the hosts of the Institute of Physics and the Institute of Electrical Engineering at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing. In terms of its technical focus, the effort was motivated by the recent remarkable acceleration of the PV activities in China, being also of particular interest for the Norwegian Research Centre for Solar Cell Technology in Norway (an FME-centre, i.e. a nationally coordinated centre for Environment-friendly Energy Research). Based on strong project results, dissemination and specific plans for the future collaborations, we conclude that the project aims were successfully accomplished. Indeed, we have hosted more than ten long-term guest researcher visits (lasted for over 25 months in total), multiple short-term visits and organized three workshops. Altogether, this fruitful exchange has resulted in a large number of joint scientific papers, as well as several joint patents. The know-how generated in the course of this collaboration, is used to address the conventional silicon-based devices technologies, as well as radically new materials. In terms of the silicon-based solar cell improvements, a true highlight was our invention of the nanoparticle-assisted mask-less wet etching of inverted pyramids in silicon, nearly totally avoiding issues of light reflection. Importantly, we did not only report a unique technical solution, but uncovered the underlying physics based on an elegant mechanism of the charge transfer between the nanoparticles, the solvent, and the silicon surface, depending on its crystallographic orientation. As such, we discovered an industrially viable solution for manufacturing of a superior light trapping texture, which was previously achievable only using complicated/expensive techniques. We have also extended our work in new directions and patented an original method capable of improving the integrated device performance. When it comes to new materials, we have explored several promising options, mainly focusing on functional oxides. In particular, we resolved a long-lasting issue of excitonic emission quenching at the intrinsic defects in cuprous oxide, literally opening a gateway for the use of its otherwise outstanding optical properties. Further illustrating the innovation activities, we patented a method for organic/inorganic hybrid perovskite films preparation for solar cell applications. Very importantly, all these achievements were reached by the exchange (or with participation) of PhD students, who also benefitted from taking relevant courses. As such, we indeed operated in accordance with our original vision of "Innovation Driven Education And Science in photovoltaics", which gave rise to the project acronym - IDEAS. The IDEAS collaboration is envisaged to be maintained and perhaps even enhanced in future. For that reason we are in a process of applying for state/regional funding both in Norway and China, as well as negotiating with private enterprises for raising funds for continuation of the research programs and/or licensing of the filed patents. We are also extending our collaboration towards the leading university in China - Tsinghua University - planning for joint courses and investigating possibilities of establishing a joint degree program. The results of the present collaboration will also be used in the frame of the upcoming solar FME, the Research Centre for Sustainable Solar Cell Technology, recently selected for funding from 2017. In a bigger perspective, the present collaboration strengthens Norway?s capacity as a leading research nation and contributes to the knowledge-based and resource-responsible community in China.

The aim of the IDEAS consortium is to develop long-term relations between the Norwegian photovoltaic (PV) community and strong internationally recognized partners in China, becoming recently an arena for remarkable acceleration of PV industries encouragin g more efforts on PV research and education. In order to explore collaboration, we identify ambitions but realistic objectives that are divided into educational, research and innovation issues, however, ultimately linked together for their successful impl ementation. Specifically, in average 30 MSc and 20 PhD students per year (in total on Norwegian and Chinese sites) will benefit from taking specific on-site short courses given by professors travelling in both directions covering both technical and entre preneurship issues . Further, we plan for MSc and PhD student travelling in both directions too for taking experimental courses. In order to reduce the cost, all distant travelling to courses given in Norway/China will be synchronized with the rest of the IDEAS activities, for example research training visits, annual workshop participation, staff exchange etc. In terms we target to go beyond state of the art in (i) pushing Si-based solar cell technology toward its ultimate performance and (ii) exploring n ew semiconductors and nanostructures for PV devices. The ultimate target is to prepare for the results uptake and moving the effort toward innovations providing foundation for a long term operation well beyond the first 3 years. Presently we may foresee similar (or even increased) volume of the project for the second step (2015-2020) of operation.