Congratulations to Vivek Sharma. Our latest graduate.

Vivek Sharma is our most recent graduate. He successfully defended his PhD thesis in September, 2013 on the "Study of Chrages Present in SIlicon Nitride Films" During his PhD he demonstrated the ability of silicon nitride to hold both positive and negative charge and to hold that charge over extended periods. The work has important implications for advanced silicon solar cells where recombination at the surfaces is increasingly important and there is a wide range in electronic doping and type.

Record high voltage on a silicon solar device.

A recent publication in Applied Physics Letters published a result showing a solar cell with an open circuit voltage of 753 mV. To date this is the highest published value of an open circuit voltage in a silicon solar device. The article citation is: S. Y. Herasimenka, W. J. Dauksher, and S. G. Bowden, “>750 mV open circuit voltage measured on 50 μm thick silicon heterojunction solar cell,” Applied Physics Letters, vol. 103, no. 5, pp. 053511–053511–4, Aug. 2013.

Solar Powered Solar Power Lab

The solar power lab is now powered by solar! The solarization project at ASU continues to expand with the latest addition being 1 MW of capacity covering the building and parking lot of MacroTechnologyWorks, which is the building that houses the Solar Power Labs. The system provides more than enough power to offset the usage of the solar power lab. As a grid tied system, the extra power on sunny days is fed back into the grid.

Student’s energy powers research, athletics

As posted on ASU's research matters web site: Natasa Vulic is helping improve the efficiency of solar cells to meet future energy demand. She began her research in ASU’s Solar Power Lab as an ASU undergraduate in the Barrett Honors College and is continuing as a graduate student. Her outlet from all that mental work is running up to 90 miles per week as a Sun Devil athlete on the cross-country team.

Photovoltaics provides 50% of ASU's electricity demand

Arizona State University takes full advantage of being in the "Valley of the Sun" and has an agressive program to install photovoltaic generating systems with more installed PV capacity than any other university in the United States. The installations are starting to pay real dividends. On February 24 half the power used on campus in the middle of the day was provided by photovoltaic systems.