[Newton] Advancing the efficiency and production potential of excitonic solar cells (APEX), Phase- II

UK and India are both rising stars in the promotion of Solar Energy viz. direct generation of electricity from the Sun called photovoltaics (PV). In the UK, PV is seen as a key technology to reduce the carbon footprint of electricity generation. It is also a necessity if future building standards are to be met, which will require on-site generation. PV is the only way to meet this to date. DECC has announced recently 'The Solar Strategy' which promotes the deployment of solar technologies on the existing buildings. In India PV has the added benefit that it is a highly scalable technology that can be deployed to support the grid infrastructure and indeed can be built possibly faster than conventional power plants through terrestrial solar farms and BIPV sectors. The current APEX program stems from the strategic move by the governments of the UK and India who jointly identified Solar Energy as an area of significance in providing solutions to the problem of meeting future energy needs. This partnership was aimed at linking the strengths of both countries to enhance the research capabilities of both nations.
APEX had been focusing on the development of new functional materials, device structures, materials processing and engineering of photovoltaic modules utilising excitonic solar cells (ESCs). These are a class of nano-structured solar cells based on organic nano-composites and dye-sensitised nanocrystalline TiO2 materials. The current state-of-the-art power conversion efficiency (PCE) figures ~11.4% and ~9.2% has been achieved in liquid junction dye sensitized solar cell (DSSC) and organic solar cells (OSC), respectively. In the pursuit of achieving high efficiency solid state DSSC, a new breakthrough has been established recently through our Oxford group (Prof. Henry Snaith) who achieved >17% efficient solid state devices using pervoskite solar cells. Thus, the APEX team enjoys the exceptional, world-class capability in Excitonic PV technology. The success of the program had been through its novelty, innovation and cutting edge R&D capability it possesses.

The first phase of APEX had been a learning curve for both the countries in setting up collaborations across various groups in India and the UK, which took some time to get established. Nevertheless, UK team had tried its best to exploit this opportunity to interact with Indian groups and vice-versa, which has demonstrated the innovation and excellence in the form of the joint outputs and exchange visits for the required knowledge exchange. The impacts, particularly with a benefit to India with the proposed APEX Phase-II, have been elaborated as following.
SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNOLOGICAL IMPACT:
The success of the APEX program has already demonstrated its excellence across various academic groups within India. Apart from intense collaborations amongst the existing groups, other major groups with relevant expertise are also set to join hands to strengthened the objectives of the program. The scientific knowledge exchange is also likely to spread widely with the young researchers being groomed and acquiring new skills set to set out their priorities with new academic responsibilities aligning with the wider objective of the project.
INDUSTRIAL AND ECONOMIC IMPACT:
The joint consortia are committed to provide direct benefit of the research outcomes to the industrial partners and end users involved in the program. The successful outcome of the phase-I of the project has already opened up possibilities for end user companies like NSG-Pilkington group, G-24 Power and Solar Press who are looking for the opportunity to invest in India. This will significantly increase the bilateral trade opportunities between the two countries.The participating companies from UK have their commercial interests embedded. In particular, NSG-group is quite keen in establishing their foothold for glass market in India and building up of functional glass product with the help of members within APEX. G-24i Power and SolarPress have their interest in getting a stable and efficient devices for their product promotion and business in India. Besides, with the emergence of Perovskite Solar Cells and their success already getting global, Oxford PV have their strong interest in the Indian market and they have decided to come on board in APEX-II as Industry partners. Also, with the external participation of Swansea University (SPECIFIC) in the APEX phase-II, efforts will be made to bring on board the relevant wings of 'Tata' viz. Tatasteel, Tatacolours, Tatapower, who happens to be the largest employer in the UK as potential end user for commercialisation of the favourite technology, which will be helpful in new employment opportunities in India which is a win-win situation.
ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACT: Benefits to society and environment
The success of the Perovskite Solar Cells and the interests of OxfordPV along with other manufacturing groups within the UK, the benefits of this cheaper and efficient technology look quite apparent under Indian condition. The collaborations between Indian and UK teams are paying particular attention to exploring efficient, cheaper and friendly materials and processes which will have high capacity generation with little upfront costs and will help UK and India towards achieving low carbon society.