Extended Scientific Topics 2024

1. Sustainability, Life Cycle Assessments and Circularity

• Life-cycle assessments - Eco-designs for cells and modules
• Critical materials management (e.g. Ag, In, Bi, Pb) and possible routes for TW/y PV manufacturing

2. Silicon Materials

• Silicon feedstock
• Silicon crystallization, wafering and direct-wafer production
• Defects in silicon, Defect engineering

3. Emerging Technologies for Silicon Cells, including Tandem

• Advanced light management, ultra-thin devices and new applications (e.g. space)
• Novel passivating contacts and transparent materials, new metallization approaches
• Si-based multijunction cells in combination with perovskites, III-V and alternative materials
• High and record efficiency devices
• Cell characterizations and simulations

4. Advanced Manufacturing, Challenges for Industrial Devices

• Digitalization, data processing and machine learning in PV
• Process integration, low-cost manufacturing & new manufacturing tools
• Advances in industrial solar cells (e.g. PERC, SHJ, TOPCon, IBC): wet processes, light management, junction formation, surface passivation, metallization

5. Module Technologies

• Interconnection, module processing and materials for TW scale manufacturing
• Solutions & challenges for X-IPV (eg: buildings, vehicles, etc.)
• Module characterizations and simulations

6. Energy Yield, Reliability & Cost

• Cells and Modules reliability and degradation mechanisms
• Energy yield
• Cost studies - Bankability