Microbial Approach to Low-Cost Production of Photovoltaic Nanomaterials

Ji Won Moon; Ilia N. Ivanov; Chad E. Duty; Lonnie J. Love; Tommy J. Phelps

doi:10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03269

Microbial Approach to Low-Cost Production of Photovoltaic Nanomaterials

Ji Won Moon, Ilia N. Ivanov, Chad E. Duty, Lonnie J. Love, Tommy J. Phelps

Functional Hybrid Nanomaterials

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Scopus citations

Abstract

Photovoltaic (PV)-generated electricity can participate in renewable grid parity after meeting conditions of low-cost PV materials and economic manufacturing of solar cells. Here, we report low-cost, scalable microbial synthesis of Cu(In,Ga)Se₂ (CIGSe) and Cu(In,Ga)S₂ (CIGS), which are among the promising candidates to serve as light absorbing layers in solar panels. Microbial synthesis uses reducible chalcophiles and empirically stoichiometric metal components to produce CIGSe and CIGS with band gaps and intra- A nd intercrystallite compositional homogeneity similar to that produced with traditional techniques. Importantly, microbially produced photovoltaic materials described herein use inexpensive precursor materials at moderate temperatures (65 °C). The microbially facilitated processes do not utilize high temperature, vacuum, or toxic organic solvents. The potential to upscale microbial synthesis without loss of material quality is demonstrated here, indicating a high potential for industrial applications of this technology for production of nanomaterials for PV applications. We estimate that a 50 000 gallon fermentor could generate about 100 kg/month of CIGSe nanoparticles, which could be processed into 0.2 MW of PV cells.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	18297-18302
Number of pages	6
Journal	ACS Sustainable Chemistry and Engineering
Volume	7
Issue number	22
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03269
State	Published - Nov 18 2019

Funding

This work was sponsored by the Laboratory Directed Research and Development Program of Oak Ridge National Laboratory, managed by UT-Battelle, LLC, for the U. S. Department of Energy under contract no. DE-AC05-00OR22725. The United States Government retains and the publisher, by accepting the article for publication, acknowledges that the United States Government retains a non-exclusive, paid-up, irrevocable, world-wide license to publish or reproduce the published form of this manuscript, or allow others to do so, for United States Government purposes. The Department of Energy will provide public access to these results of federally sponsored research in accordance with the DOE Public Access Plan (http://energy.gov/downloads/doe-public-access-plan). We appreciate Dr. Jennifer Mosher for GC analysis, Xiangping Yin for ICP-MS analysis, Dr. Gengxin Zhang for constructive comments on M1, Dr. David Joy for STEM analysis, and the Late Sue Carroll for cell counting.

Keywords

Thermoanaerobacter
copper indium gallium selenide
copper indium gallium sulfide
inexpensive precursor materials
stoichiometric homogeneity

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10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03269

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title = "Microbial Approach to Low-Cost Production of Photovoltaic Nanomaterials",

abstract = "Photovoltaic (PV)-generated electricity can participate in renewable grid parity after meeting conditions of low-cost PV materials and economic manufacturing of solar cells. Here, we report low-cost, scalable microbial synthesis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) and Cu(In,Ga)S2 (CIGS), which are among the promising candidates to serve as light absorbing layers in solar panels. Microbial synthesis uses reducible chalcophiles and empirically stoichiometric metal components to produce CIGSe and CIGS with band gaps and intra- A nd intercrystallite compositional homogeneity similar to that produced with traditional techniques. Importantly, microbially produced photovoltaic materials described herein use inexpensive precursor materials at moderate temperatures (65 °C). The microbially facilitated processes do not utilize high temperature, vacuum, or toxic organic solvents. The potential to upscale microbial synthesis without loss of material quality is demonstrated here, indicating a high potential for industrial applications of this technology for production of nanomaterials for PV applications. We estimate that a 50 000 gallon fermentor could generate about 100 kg/month of CIGSe nanoparticles, which could be processed into 0.2 MW of PV cells.",

keywords = "Thermoanaerobacter, copper indium gallium selenide, copper indium gallium sulfide, inexpensive precursor materials, stoichiometric homogeneity",

author = "Moon, \{Ji Won\} and Ivanov, \{Ilia N.\} and Duty, \{Chad E.\} and Love, \{Lonnie J.\} and Phelps, \{Tommy J.\}",

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doi = "10.1021/acssuschemeng.9b03269",

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T1 - Microbial Approach to Low-Cost Production of Photovoltaic Nanomaterials

AU - Moon, Ji Won

AU - Ivanov, Ilia N.

AU - Duty, Chad E.

AU - Love, Lonnie J.

AU - Phelps, Tommy J.

PY - 2019/11/18

Y1 - 2019/11/18

N2 - Photovoltaic (PV)-generated electricity can participate in renewable grid parity after meeting conditions of low-cost PV materials and economic manufacturing of solar cells. Here, we report low-cost, scalable microbial synthesis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) and Cu(In,Ga)S2 (CIGS), which are among the promising candidates to serve as light absorbing layers in solar panels. Microbial synthesis uses reducible chalcophiles and empirically stoichiometric metal components to produce CIGSe and CIGS with band gaps and intra- A nd intercrystallite compositional homogeneity similar to that produced with traditional techniques. Importantly, microbially produced photovoltaic materials described herein use inexpensive precursor materials at moderate temperatures (65 °C). The microbially facilitated processes do not utilize high temperature, vacuum, or toxic organic solvents. The potential to upscale microbial synthesis without loss of material quality is demonstrated here, indicating a high potential for industrial applications of this technology for production of nanomaterials for PV applications. We estimate that a 50 000 gallon fermentor could generate about 100 kg/month of CIGSe nanoparticles, which could be processed into 0.2 MW of PV cells.

AB - Photovoltaic (PV)-generated electricity can participate in renewable grid parity after meeting conditions of low-cost PV materials and economic manufacturing of solar cells. Here, we report low-cost, scalable microbial synthesis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 (CIGSe) and Cu(In,Ga)S2 (CIGS), which are among the promising candidates to serve as light absorbing layers in solar panels. Microbial synthesis uses reducible chalcophiles and empirically stoichiometric metal components to produce CIGSe and CIGS with band gaps and intra- A nd intercrystallite compositional homogeneity similar to that produced with traditional techniques. Importantly, microbially produced photovoltaic materials described herein use inexpensive precursor materials at moderate temperatures (65 °C). The microbially facilitated processes do not utilize high temperature, vacuum, or toxic organic solvents. The potential to upscale microbial synthesis without loss of material quality is demonstrated here, indicating a high potential for industrial applications of this technology for production of nanomaterials for PV applications. We estimate that a 50 000 gallon fermentor could generate about 100 kg/month of CIGSe nanoparticles, which could be processed into 0.2 MW of PV cells.

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KW - copper indium gallium selenide

KW - copper indium gallium sulfide

KW - inexpensive precursor materials

KW - stoichiometric homogeneity

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M3 - Article

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IS - 22

ER -

Microbial Approach to Low-Cost Production of Photovoltaic Nanomaterials

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