SUNDRIVE SOLAR
UNSW SPINOUT
The solar PV industry relies heavily on silver for solar cell electrodes . Silver is both expensive and limited in supply ( 20 per cent of the world ’ s industrial silver consumption is attributed to solar cell manufacturing ).
With mainstream PV technology at its limits , the industry is rapidly pursuing next-generation PV technologies to meet increasing energy demands but these require up to three times more silver . This further constrains the expansion potential of solar PV .
SunDrive is developing a copper plating technology to replace silver as the solar cell electrode . Copper is 100 times cheaper per kilogram and a thousand times more abundant . More importantly , SunDrive ’ s technology can provide performance boosts unachievable with current silver-based technologies .
> Developed world-first direct copper plating for next-generation solar PV .
> Solar cell efficiency world record ( 25.54 %) in September 2021 .
> Successful translation of cell technology to early demonstration modules .
> Demonstration of metallisation process on in-house prototype production equipment .
100 INNOVATIONS AND CAPABILITIES
SunDrive has demonstrated its technology on commercial-size cells and demonstration modules . It is now scaling its novel metallisation technology to pilot-scale manufacturing , in preparation for market entry .
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