The Extremely Thin Absorber-layer (ETA) solar cell is a relatively new PV configuration. In materials viewpoint, there are a large number of semiconductor materials available that are suitable to employ in ETA cell configuration. Most of them are yet to be tested in ETA cell. The first part of the project will be aimed at screening semiconductor material combinations to find out novel material combinations (high band gap n-type semiconductor/low band gap light absorbing semiconductor/high band gap p-type semiconductor) for ETA cells. This will be done by aligning the band gap and band edges of semiconductors. The next part of the project is the construction of the integrated ALD and CVD deposition system. The main advantage of constructing this deposition system is that it will give us the capability of depositing conformal layers of light absorbing low band gap semiconductor materials on high aspect ratio of microstructures. The system will also be capable of deposition of pin-hole free compact layers and deposition of p-type high band gap semiconductors on high aspect ratio microstructures. Initially, a compact high band gap metal oxide semiconductor thin film will be deposited on FTO substrates using spray pyrolysis (to be used as a blocking layer). For the comparison the integrated deposition system will also be employed to make compact blocking layers. Then a microstructured porous film of the same high band gap semiconductor will be deposited on the compact layer. For this, a suitable deposition method will be selected from a range of methods (i.e. screen printing of sol-gel colloid, doctor-blading of sol-gel colloid, template assisted electrodeposition, spray pyrolysis). Then a conformal layer of light absorbing semiconductor material (i.e. CuInS2, Bi2S3, Cu2S, In2S3) will be deposited by using the integrated ALD and CVD deposition system. A high band gap p-type semiconductor (i.e. CuI, CuCNS, CuAlO2) will be deposited on the conformal layer by a suitable method (i.e. spray pyrolysis, dip coating, electrodeposition, integrated ALD/CVD method, or a combination of these methods). This will follow the deposition of a Au back contact. The completed cells will be characterised by a range of techniques (i.e. photocurrent spectroscopy, steady-state current-voltage plots, intensity modulated photocurrent spectroscopy and charge extraction technique) to study the limiting factors of cells. The resulting information will be fed into cell fabrication in order to improve light harvesting efficiency, photovoltage, and overall conversion efficiency. The project will be carried out by a postdoctoral research assistant who has the necessary skills over a period of three years. He will be supported by a dedicated PhD student (fully-funded by the Faculty of Science, Loughborough University) throughout the project. Regular meetings will be held with our industrial partners (Bac2 Ltd and PolySolar Ltd). The keen interest of industrial partners and their regular input is a key advantage for the project. Based on this work, new ideas, collaborations, and interdisciplinary projects will emerge and further funding will be applied for. In overall, the project will bring new capabilities to UK next generation solar cell research.

In this proposal we are bringing together a number of individuals and institutions with a varied and complimentary skill set appropriate for the proposed work. All members of the team have an extensive and world-class background in fuel cell research and development, and the institutions which they work are well provisioned to undertake this work. Furthermore we are supported by a number of Institutions and companies. The project is based around four research work packages and one coordinating work package. * Operation of fuel cells on "dirty" fuels Fuel cells typically require high quality hydrogen to prevent the poisoning of catalysts and membranes. This not only increases the cost of fuels, but limits the possible sources that can be used unless extensive clean-up methods are used. We intend to study the poisoning mechanism and poison content of fuels/air; develop catalysts with improved poison resistance. The goal is improvement in operation of fuel cells on typically available fuels in the near term, and use of "dirtier fuels" (biogenic sources) in the longer term. * Reduction of the cost of fuel cells Catalyst costs are one of the major components of fuel cell system cost (~25-30% of total). We intend to look at reduced platinum loading systems and how these systems interact with poor quality fuel/air. In the short term the desire is to reduce the cost and catalyst requirements. Over the longer term there is the desire to transition to new catalysts. Hence, we will also look at the development of new non-precious metal (or reduced precious metal) catalysts and the integration of these catalysts with new catalyst supports. * Improvement in fuel cell longevity Fuel cell longevity is a function of catalyst degradation and extreme conditions occurring during start-up/shut down and other extraneous events. Within this work package we will examine diagnostics to interrogate and understand the degradation processes and the development of improved catalyst supports and catalysts to resist degradation. * Improving fuel cell systems efficiency Improving fuel cell efficiency is associated with diagnosing the bottlenecks and those areas where the majority of losses are occurring. We will facilitate this process by developing and applying a range of in-cell and in-stack approaches to understand where those efficiency losses are occurring. At the same time we will examine the development of fuel cell balance of plant components to improve system efficiency. These approaches will be coupled with system modeling to assess the best areas to achieve performance gains.

The broad theme areas are Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, and the training will be interdisciplinary based on the skills and experience of the partners which range from Chemical Engineering (Prof Kendall), Chemistry (Prof Schroeder and Dr Anderson), Materials Science (Dr Book), Economics (Prof Green), Bioscience (Prof Macaskie), Applications (Dr Walker), Automotive and Aeronautics (Prof Thring) and Policy/Regulation (Prof Weyman-Jones). Training will also include industry supervision with the 23 companies which have signed up and overseas training with FZJ in Germany and University of Central Florida in the USA.There is an increasing demand for skilled staff in the field of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells, which at present has no dedicated UK centre for training, disseminating and co-ordinating with government bodies, industry and the public. This contrasts with the establishment of Forschungszentrum Julich (FZJ) in Germany, ECN in the Netherlands, and Risoe Laboratory in Denmark. Large companies such as Johnson Matthey, Rolls Royce and Air Products have substantial hydrogen and fuel cell projects, with hundreds of employed PhD level scientists and engineers. Recruitment has been a problem in recent years since only a handful of British universities carry out research in this area. But, most significantly, a large amount of private sector investment has now been injected, especially on the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in London, such that support to SMEs such as Ceres Power, Intelligent Energy, Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd, ITM, CMR and Voller has risen to several hundred million pounds, requiring hundreds of PhD recruits. Also, since the Joint Technology Initiative (JTI) has now been established in Europe, this 1bn Euro project will add to the very large research funding by organisations such as Siemens, GM, Renault, Ford, FZJ, EADS, CEA, Risoe, ECN etc. Several large centres for research and training exist in Europe, the USA and Japan and it is imperative that Britain increases its student output to keep pace.