Solar cell efficiency improved as Wollongong startup replaces silver with copper in its new venture
A small startup technology company in Wollongong has created what it believes is the most efficient commercial-sized solar cell ever made in Australia without relying on expensive, precious metals, but the next step is more ambitious.
The global solar industry is on a collision course because the growing demand and environmental benefit of solar come with the caveat about its significant use of precious metals.
Today, about 15 per cent of the world's industrial consumption of silver goes into making solar cells.
"If the industry is to grow by an order of magnitude — which is predicted to happen — that presents a significant challenge," Sundrive CEO Vince Allen said.
He co-founded the small company in New South Wales that is quietly working to replace silver with copper in solar cell manufacturing.
"Copper is 1,000 times more abundant and 100 times cheaper per kilogram than silver," he said.
"It presents its own challenges, and those challenges are the core of what we're addressing.
"There's a lot of consensus in the scientific community that copper is most likely to be the most suitable alternative [to silver]."
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