Australia invented a way to reduce the amount of silver in solar panels: why it matters

Solar panels are becoming increasingly popular in the world, but their production requires natural resources. Therefore, scientists from the UK have found a way to reduce the need for the use of minerals in their manufacture.

We are talking about the replacement of silver, which is necessary for the production of panels. 24 Kanal writes about this with reference to PV Australia magazine.

How scientists propose to replace silver

Australian engineers from the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy at the University of New South Wales have developed a new design for screen-printed contacts. The goal is to reduce the amount of silver used to make the contacts without compromising the efficiency of the panels themselves.

The new design will help reduce the amount of silver in tunnel oxide passivated contacts from 12 milligrams per watt to 2 milligrams per watt. This will help keep silver consumption in solar power below 20% of global supply as photovoltaic systems scale up.

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Brett Gallam, an associate professor in the School of Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy at the University of New South Wales, said the solar industry was not thinking ahead at the moment and that as demand for solar panels grew, the silver, indium and bismuth needed to make them would quickly run out.

My work initially focused on improving the efficiency of the cells, and then we identified that silver consumption could be a problem. Based on this particular project I was working on, we estimated that there was potential to reduce silver consumption by up to 90%, – added Dr. Yuchao Zhang, one of the study's leaders.

The new technology provides additional conductivity, which will prevent contact breakage, loss of electrical resistance and reliability problems that can occur in the absence of silver in the manufacture of contacts.

According to scientists, their invention will save a lot of money. For example, a company that produces 10 to 20 gigawatts of electricity per year from solar panels would save $50 million.