NREL Licenses Technology to Increase Solar Cell Efficiency

The U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) announced today that Natcore Technology Inc. has been granted a patent license agreement to develop a line of black silicon products.
Natcore and NREL also will enter a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) to develop commercial prototypes based on NRE's black silicon inventions and patents.

"This technology will play and important role in moving forward the availability of solar technologies," NREL Vice President for Commercialization & Technology Transfer William Farris said.
"It is one more step to help bolster the Department of Energy’s SunShot Initiative to make solar energy cost competitive with other forms of energy by the end of the decade."

The Black Silicon Nanocatalytic Wet-Chemical Etch emerged from work by NREL photovoltaic researchers that demonstrated that black silicon solar cells, which have been chemically etched to appear black, better absorb the sun’s energy.
The inexpensive, one-step method reduces light reflection from silicon wafers to less than 2 percent, and promises to reduce manufacturing production cost and capital expense.
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