Bangalore : What began as a passionate research project for the professorsat the Material Research Center (MRC) at the Indian Institute of ScienceBangalore to develop a new solar cell-Copper Indium Galliumdiselenide(CIGS)-is now all set to make a grand entry into the IT industry. Speakingwith The Financial Express, IISc (MRC) professor Dr SB Krupanidhi said threeelectronic component manufacturers and one IT products company hadapproached the Institute to work on a joint initiative. While the componentcompanies will work on building infrastructure to accomodate the new solarcell, the IT company is set to draw up a product portfolio of hand-helddevices which will be powered by the CIGS solar cell panel. A total of Rs 4crore will be invested by these companies towards research activities, DrKrupanidhi said. The final roadmap for the initiative is expected to befinalised within four months and the products will be promoted in the marketwithin a time frame of a year and a half and will be available at retailoutlets in three years.So far the IISc research project has been funded by the Ministry ofNon-Conventional Energy Sources (MNES) which has invested nearly Rs 1 crorein R&D activities. Another option the Institute is exploring is developingan application using the solar cells to set up a common power sourcegenerating device for running networks.
By powering servers with these solar cell panels, power can be generated anddistributed to run company networks. While research has been on to developthis new kind of solar cell on a global scale, Indian scentists have takenthe lead by eliminating the cadmium sulphide buffer source of the solar cellby replacing it with a zinc-related compound. A patent both in the US andIndia has been filed.The structure of the cell has glass in the bottom-mostlayer, followed by a metal contact layer, a coating of the CIGS cells, azinc-related buffer (which has replaced the cadmium sulphide) and finallythe electrodes.
``The cadmium is toxic and we have replaced it with a zinc compound. Anotherbreakthrough is that we have managed to reduce the temperature required forthe process to take place from 500-600 degrees centigrade to 300-250 degreescentigrade. This lowering of temperature has enabled us to replace the glasslayer with plastic, thus making it an extremely flexible substance,'' hesaid.
One key benefit is that a non-silicon based solar cell is ideally suited forthe Indian market (close to 70 per cent of the costs involved in producingsolar cells is to procure the silicon) and the costs are also close to fourtimes cheaper than silicon-based cells, thereby making it a cost effectivetechnology for the common man.
The CIGS project had evinced interest from a number of non-IT sectors aswell for building applications for the army, government and rural sectors,Dr Krupanidhi .
The availability of a gridless power source would be a major benefit forrural requirements, he added.
Copyright © 2001 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
