Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center - Saudi Solar ...

Solar & Photovoltaics
Engineering Research Center
Ghassan E. Jabbour, SPIE Fellow, EOS Fellow
Director
Rawabi Holdings Endowed Research Chair in Solar and Voltaics,
Named Professor
King Abdullah University of Science and Technology

Center Mission
‣ To become a leading institute in renewable energy science and engineering.
‣ To provide foundational innovations to enable efficient and low-cost disruptive
solar cell and sustainable energy technologies.
‣ To be the catalyst for Kingdom-wide initiatives in solar and renewable energy
technology adoption.
Present
123rf.com
VTT
Future: Roll-to-Roll Printing
123rf.com

Center Mission and Outreach Activities
To be Ambassadors of Excellence in Renewable Energy Science and Technology
Solar & Photovoltaics Engineering Research Center
Joint research
with KAUST partners
Researcher
exchange program
Expand research network
Organize international
conferences
Enhance local
student participation
Accelerate
acceptance of solar
technology
Interdisciplinary approach
to basic energy science
and engineering
MS Degree in Energy
Science and
Engineering
Entrepreneurship
and key
IP sustainability
Alternative energy sci. advisor
to the Kingdom
Publish in top
ranked journals
Education
in IP principles
Active engagement
with industry
Cultivate
spin-offs/startups
Continuing
education courses
Workshops
for decision makers

Flagship

Center R&D
CIGS and CXYS Solar Cells
(Goal: PCE > 20%)
Amorphous, Nanosilicon and Quantum Dots
Solar Cells (Goal: PCE > 10%)
Optical Coatings and Photon Management Designs for
Optimized solar cell performance including. Thermal Solar
Small Molecule and Polymeric Solar Cells (Goal: PCE > 10%)
Energy Storage, Harvesting, and Fuel Cells
Testing and Characterization

What Does it Take?

Level 0: Lab Space
KAUST
Discover and optimize new materials an device structures using
traditional and high throughput approaches

Level 3: North Neighborhood
KAUST
Synthesize the new materials and fabricate optimized devices using
solution based processing including low cost approaches such as PRINTING!

Level 3: South Neighborhood
KAUST
Characterize materials, thin film layers, and devices.

Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy and Imaging
Laboratory
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5
6
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7

Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy and Imaging
Laboratory
Femtosecond spectroscopy and
material processing room equipped
with femtosecond regenerative and
parametric amplifiers. Laser system
produces high energy, ultrashort

Ultrafast Laser Spectroscopy and Imaging
Laboratory
Ultrahigh resolution Optical Coherence Tomography (UHR-OCT) room equipped with femtosecond
oscillator producing 70fs pulses tunable in NIR range for supercontinuum generation. UHR-OCT is a fast,
sub-micron resolution method to acquire 3D structural data of semitransparent multilayer structures
like flexible solar cells. Method is fast enough to be applied in monitoring the printing quality in R2Rmanufacturing
of flexible electronics. Experimental spectral-domain tomography tool is under
construction which will provide real-time imaging rate with 0.5µm resolution i.e., to our knowledge, the
highest resolution spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography in the world.

Surface Analysis Laboratory
Versatile ellipsometric capabilities: UV-IR

Surface Analysis Laboratory
SELECTED INSTRUMENTS
Spectroscopic Ellipsometry VUV-VASE, IR-VASE,
M2000
Optical properties (refractive index/
dielectric function), layer thickness,
surface roughness, interfacial mixing,
chemical bonding
Atomic Force Microscopy Bruker Dimension Icon High resolution surface topography
Hall Effect Measurement Lakeshore 7700A Resistivity, carrier concentration,
mobility of semiconductors
Optical Microscopy Zeiss Materials surface imaging
Scanning Electron Microscopy Jeol Neoscope Benchtop Materials imaging (top down/cross
section)
Profilometry Contour GT-X8 Optical
Profiler, KLA Tencor Stylus
Profilometer
3D imaging, thickness, roughness
Fluorescence Fluoromax4 Steady-state fluorescence, lifetime
measurement
X-ray tomography SkyScan 3D materials imaging
Spectrophotometer Carry 6000i UV-VIS-NIR Spectrophotometry (solid
and liquid samples)
Sample Preparation Sputter Coater, Plasma-
Preen Cleaner/Etcher
Metals coating, plasma cleaning and
surface treatment
Surface Analysis Laboratory
in Center includes a wide
range of techniques for
optical and structural
characterization thin-film
surfaces and interfaces and
liquid-based materials.
These properties are key
issue for materials
development
and
engineering. The laboratory
has a unique spectroscopic
ellipsometry platform
equipped with top of the
line ellipsometers for
accurate
optical
characterization of different
materials.

Printing and Roll-to-Roll Laboratory
Roll-to-Roll Printing:
The Roll-to-Roll printing process is used for
manufacturing rigid and flexible solar cells,
and other printed electronics and photonics
(e.g., fuel cells, thin film batteries, flexible
LEDs and displays, and charge storage devices)
in a continuous roll to roll fashion. Roll-to-Roll
printing is the way to lower the cost of
manufacturing!

Photolithography Laboratory
Classical lithography approaches,
nanolithography, nanoembossing,
and direct laser printing.

Wet Chemistry Laboratory
The Wet Chemistry Laboratory
provides synthetic and analytical
facilities. In six fumehoods
experiments can be carried out in
ambient or under inert gas
atmosphere.
Synthesis equipment in this laboratory
include:
• Centrifuges
• Rotary evaporators
• Drying/Vacuum ovens
• Vacuum pumps
• Schlenk lines
• Gloveboxes
Analytical facilities include:
• Thermal analysis TG-DTA/DSC
• Gel permeation
chromatography GPC
• Physical and chemical
adsorption analyzers

Clean Room and Advanced Deposition
Laboratory
The area consists of Clean Room will be with class 1000
and class 100 zones and deposition facilities. Tools
included allow our researchers and students to carry
fundamental and applied studies.

Integrated Renewable Energy Laboratory
Hands-on research and education in
renewable energy & hybrid systems
engineering and management.
Real world testing of home developed
power generation and storage systems.
Combines renewable power generation
from solar, wind and fuel cells with
advanced energy storage technologies.
Study and evaluation of renewable energy
sources.
Excess energy can be stored in battery bank
or converted into hydrogen to be used as
backup when renewable sources are offpeak.

Advanced Energy Conversion and Storage
Laboratory
This Laboratory is designed to cover
Energy Conversion and Storage topics
with techniques permitting material
synthesis, material forming and device
fabrication, and a range of
characterization techniques of materials
and devices.

Cooperative Research Plan
It is the Director’s intent to keep the research plan flexible and
adaptable to future changes in availability of resources and/or
changes in technology requirements and acceptance.
Plan will be revisited during meetings with the Center faculty
Industrial and Scientific Advisory Board members, and
adjustments will be instituted as deemed necessary.
Center has an applied and industry-aimed broad focus in solar
and other renewable energy technologies.

IP Publications
• E. Alarousu, and G. E. Jabbour “Apparatus for submicron resolution spectral-domain Optical Coherence Tomography
using supercontinuum source” submitted to KAUST office in March 20, 2012
• S. Boulfrad, E. Alarousu, E. Daas, G. E. Jabbour “Inkjet printing with in-situ laser treatment for devices with fast
multilayer deposition“ submitted to KAUST office in March 20, 2012
• S. Boulfrad and G.E. Jabbour, “Apparatus and Method for Porous Solid Backbone Impregnation for Electrochemical
Energy Conversion Systems “ Application submitted to US Office on March 1st, 2012
• S. Boulfrad, O. Bakr, G. E. Jabbour, “Novel Method for Graded Functional Materials,” In preparation (2012)
• M. AlAhmad and G. E. Jabbour, “Fully Integrated solar cell with super capacitor having common electrode on nano
tube substarte,” Submitted 2011-06-28. (Invention Report # 2011-079)
• M. AlAhmad and G. E. Jabbour, “Flexible Energy Harvester with Supercapacitor to convert movement to electrical
energy,” Submitted 2011-06-28.(Invention Report # 2011-080 ).
• M. Bulikemu and G. E. Jabbour, “In situ synthesis of Gold Nanoparticles via inkjet submitted to KAUST IP office
submitted March, 2012

New Energy Oasis

Demonstration and Verification Systems at NEO
Thin Film
Tracking
Solar Frontier
10 KW
Q-Cells
5 KW
KANEKA
10 KW
Miasole
5 KW
Crystalline Silicon
SunTrough
Q.Cells
6 KW
BP Solar
14 KW
Hitachi Bi-Facial
4 KW
Circadian
7 KW
*

[MWh]
KAUST 2MW Roof top installation-Energy Yield
Comparison per Year
[°C]
400
350
Year 1- May 2010 to Apr 2011
Year 2 - May 2011 to Apr 2012
40
35
9300 modules
300
30
250
25
200
20
150
15
100
10
50
5
0
June July August September October November December January February March April
Yield Energy-[Year1] Yield Energy-[Year 2] Average Irr /10 (W/m2)-[Year 1]
Average Irr /10 (W/m2)-[Year 2] Average Temprature-[Year 1] Average Temprature-[Year 2]
0
Year 1 Total Yield Energy : 3441 MWh. Year 2 Total Yield Energy : 3501 MWh.
Increase in Actual yield : 140 MWh = 4%

Seawater based Solar Farms
• Drilling beach wells to supply saline water
• Using Wind power to pump water from the beach well
• Using Nano clouds to create clean water and
microenvironment

High efficiency CIGS solar cells
Industrial collaboration with:

28
Na Incorporation in CIGS
Glass/Mo
Substrate
+
Back Contact
HPC Sputtering
Cu,In,Ga
Precursor
CIG
Annealing in
H2Se/Ar
Absorber
CIGS
Chemical Bath
Deposition
Buffer Layer
CdS
RF Sputtering
TCO
i-ZnO/n-ZnO
Grids & Scribing
Na is supplied by NaF evaporation on Mo or on CIG layer before selenization

Efficiency vs precursor composition & NaF
thickness
Active Area: 0.447cm 2
First Results:
- Ca. two months period
- Without sulfur addition
- No MgF 2 (antireflection layer)
- NaF layer on top of CIG
η = 16.04 %

Thank You
sperc.kaust.edu.sa
“…Innovation is probably the single biggest factor determining who succeeds and who fails anywhere in the world.”
Nick Donofrio, IBM Corporation, Global Innovation Outlook, 2007