SOLAR ENERGY
Organic cells likely to be cheaper
As the use of solar cells as an alternative source of energy still involves a high investment, a team representing three research centres at the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) has come up with an idea for a new, cheaper type of cell.
Unlike the existing solar cells which use such inorganic materials as silicon or germanium as conductive elements, the new kind will rely on organic material, curbing production costs. The collaborative project involves the NSTDA's National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, the National Metal and Materials Technology Centre and the National Nanotechnology Centre. The NSTDA hopes that the project will widen people's options. The team said it had used a compound of organic materials to develop conductive polymer, besides using nano-crystalline titanium dioxide to allow electricity to move through a cell. Work on the project, which started this year, will go right through to 2010, commercial sales being the primary objective. Chaiyuth Sac-Kung, assistant researcher from the National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre, confirmed the expectations of a lower investment. Normally, the break-even period for a silicon-based solar cell is around 20 years. An organic cell will be half that. The per-watt price is also an area of concern. A silicon-based solar cell nowadays costs around Bt150 to Bt200 a watt, which is considered high. Organic solar cells will have brought the cost down to Bt70 a watt, the researcher said. The lower investment is expected to encourage the use of renewable energy. Chaiyuth said the team has produced the new cell to convert solar energy into electricity with a 3-per-cent efficiency rate. It hopes to get up to 5 per cent by the end of this year. Efficiency, though, is measured based on one square centimetre of cell area. Chaiyuth said further development was needed to make the conversion rate sustainable on a larger scale, given that the project was aiming at developing a cell with at least a 5-per-cent conversion efficiency rate over one square metre. The assistant researcher, Ekkachart Hattha, said the new cell could also be a decorative piece for walls and roofs as it was dyed and had transparent properties. "We can apply this kind of solar cell to build, for example, a wall that can generate electricity for the house as well," he said. Being lightweight, it should make for flexibility in use. Well might consumers be able to place them where they want, inside homes or even over tents to offer protection and generate power. Pongpen Sutharoj, Asina Pornwasin The Nation
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