The School has secured three significant grants in the latest round of the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) funding!

A grant proposal led by David Payne, titled 'Substitution of niche-market PV production tools with cost-effective consumer-electronics technology', has been successfully awarded $420,000 by ARENA. The grant details are:

Project Length: 2 years
MQ Investigators: Dr David Payne, Dr Binesh Puthen Veettil, Associate Professor Shujuan Huang, Professor Darren Bagnall
Academic Partners: Macquarie University (lead), UNSW
Industry Partners: Hanwha Q Cells, Soleritas
Brief Description: This project aims to improve the cost-efficiency of solar PV by reducing the cost and increasing the capability of select tools used in solar cell manufacturing. This will be achieved through the development and application of production line equipment based on low-cost consumer-electronics technology, these new tools will ideally act as drop-in replacements for conventional technology. The project will focus on three forms of consumer-electronics technology. Microwave heating to replace conventional thermal processes, flatbed scanner technology for texture monitoring, and thermal imaging for defect detection. These technologies will be developed and optimised, targeting cost reductions and capability improvements.

For more information on this project, click here.

Shujuan Huang is the MQ Chief Investigator on two successful collaborative projects. The first, 'Durable Silicon Perovskite Tandem PV', has been awarded $987,285 by ARENA. This project aims to improve the durability of perovskites for silicon (Si)-perovskite tandem photovoltaics for the technology to be cost effective.

The second project, 'Triple Junction Silicon-Perovskite-Perovskite Tandem PV', has been awarded $1,494,340 by ARENA. This project aims to demonstrate high efficiency triple-junction silicon (Si)-perovskite-perovskite solar cells and conduct techno-economic-analysis identifying research directions for cell design and material choice.

Both projects are in partnership with the University of Sydney, Australian National University and University of New South Wales.  More information on Durable Silicon Perovskite Tandem PV can be found here. For more on Triple Junction Silicon-Perovskite-Perovskite Tandem PV, click here.