SmarTSolaR

In Brief

• Challenge: Energy Innovation Challenge
• Challenge Type: National Challenge Fund
• Status: Active

The Challenge

Increasing the use of renewables, with photovoltaics (PV) as a major component, is nearly universally highlighted as a major goal. Favourable public opinion and scientific consensus support the need for solar energy. The biggest challenges in PV today are:  

• the need for higher efficiencies to accelerate deployment;  
• the need to increase manufacturer’s margins so that growth is sustainable 
• need for new applications that would make solar ubiquitous. 

We can address these challenges by  

• introducing low-cost manufacturing techniques and  
• reducing cost of photovoltaics, which are mostly raw material costs at this point.  

The Solution

Our approach will provide a low-cost, efficient and recyclable alternative to commercial silicon solar cells that will also significantly reduce CO₂ emissions. SmarTSolaR offers environmentally friendly innovative materials and a low-temperature manufacturing process for device development to overcome the challenge of efficiency, mass scale production, waste management and wide application.