Emerging inorganic materials in thin-film photovoltaics Faraday Discussion 2022

Join us in Bath, or online, in 2022 for this edition of the Faraday Discussion series. For over 100 years and 300 meetings, Faraday Discussions have been the forefront of advancing the chemical sciences, and many of the Discussions have become landmark meetings in their field. The unique format of the Faraday Discussions allows for in-depth discussions and opportunities to establish new collaborations.

This Discussion will focus on the next generation of inorganic thin-film solar cells based on Earth abundant non-toxic materials. The meeting is for all researchers working on inorganic materials for thin-film photovoltaics including established and early-career scientists, post-graduate students and industrial researchers. Oral and poster presentation opportunities are available to all these groups, and I invite you to submit an oral or poster abstract to make your contribution alongside leaders in the field.

The Faraday Discussion will be organised into the following themes:

Indium-free CIGS analogues

Cu-based materials have been actively researched in the context of stable materials based on Earth-abundant elements. The so-called ‘substrate’ cell architecture underpinning CIGS technology is suitable for the deposition of a variety of Cu-based materials employing sputtering techniques and solution-based methods followed by reactive annealing. This session will consider developments in this area including absorber materials and buffer layers. One of the key objectives of the Discussion is to assess the performance gap between this class of materials and state-of-the-art CIGS cells.

Novel chalcogenides, pnictides and defect-tolerant semiconductors

This large family of compounds includes chalcogenide perovskites and delafossites, binary chalcogenides, nitrides and halides. Our understanding of the optical and electronic properties of these materials varies considerably, while appropriate device architectures have not been established in many of these cases. This session will cover the latest developments in the area, with strong emphasis on the role of coordination, bonding and the opto-electronic properties of these materials.

Material design: structure and bonding

This session will address guiding principles for screening materials for PV applications. The discussion will mainly consider absorber materials. Other active layers such as buffer and transparent conduction oxides are also within scope.

Bulk and surface characterisation techniques of solar absorbers

This session will discuss contributions of state-of-the-art tools for characterising semiconductor materials and interfaces, including synchrotron X-ray based techniques, photoemission spectroscopy/microscopy, high resolution electron microscopy and scanning probe techniques.

Oral abstracts deadline - 01. Nov. 2021

Poster abstracts deadline - 25. Apr. 2022

Early bird registration deadline - 16. May 2021

Standart registration deadline - 06. Jun. 2021

In person early bird/normal registration fee:

RSC Member £315/£365

Non-member £415/£465

Student RSC member £145/£195

Student non-member £175/£225

Accompanying person £100/£100

Online registration fee:

RSC Member £95

Non-member £145

Student RSC member £45

Student non-member £65

Royal Society of Chemistry