Award-winning metallisation paste improves solar cell efficiency

Scientists from DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials (PVAM) were awarded the American Chemical Society’s (ACS) Heroes of Chemistry award earlier this month for their invention of DuPont Solamet PV17x, a metallisation paste that is said to greatly improve the energy efficiency of solar cells.

Fine silver lines are printed on solar panels and their design leads to the efficient capture of the sun’s energy, turning it into electricity. DuPont scientists made advances in lead-tellurite frit chemistry and commercialised it as multigenerational Solamet metallisation pastes, creating a step-change in performance with increasingly higher cell efficiency and performance advantages. The majority of the PV industry has now adopted tellurite-based silver pastes in essentially all p-type c-Si solar cells, which account for more than 90% of the overall $34 million annual solar module market.

“As a result of our scientists’ dedication and commitment, our solar cell manufacturer customers were able to make more efficient cells, use less paste, expand the wafer-firing temperature window and improve adhesion during the panel-making process,” said Chuck Xu, Global Business Director, DuPont Photovoltaic and Advanced Materials. “These combined benefits contributed to improved solar cell performance and lower cost of ownership throughout the industry.”

Heroes of Chemistry is an annual award that recognises talented industrial chemical scientists whose work has led to the development of successful commercialised products ingrained with chemistry for the benefit of humankind. According to ACS President Peter Dorhout, DuPont’s Solamet technology “is a strong example of chemistry having a direct, positive impact on society, which is why these inventors are clearly ‘Heroes of Chemistry’”.

Other Heroes of Chemistry for 2018 include:

• AstraZeneca: TAGRISSO (osimertinib) is a novel, targeted treatment for patients with EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer.
• Pfizer: Inlyta (axitinib) is a standard of care for the treatment of advanced renal cell carcinoma after failure of one prior systemic therapy.
• Seattle Genetics: ADCETRIS (brentuximab vedotin) uses industry-leading antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) technology and is currently approved for the treatment of multiple CD30-expressing lymphomas.

The teams will be recognised in an awards ceremony to take place on 19 August in Boston, Massachusetts, during the ACS’s 256th National Meeting & Exposition.

Image credit: ©iStockphoto.com/Daniel Schoenen