The Center for Revolutionary Solar Photoconversion (CRSP) says it is launching 12 novel solar research projects totaling more than $1.1 million in its inaugural round of research and development funding.
CRSP is the newest research center of the Colorado Renewable Energy Collaboratory. The center concentrates on ways to directly convert the sun's energy to clean, low-cost electricity and fuels, a research area called solar photoconversion.
The four Collaboratory institutions are the Colorado School of Mines (CSM), the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU), Colorado State University (CSU) and the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).
Fourteen companies now belong to CRSP: Applied Materials Inc., Ascent Solar Technologies, DuPont, Evident Technologies, General Motors, Konarka, Lockheed Martin, Motech Industries, QuantumSphere, Sharp, Solasta, Sub-One Technology, SunEdison and Toyota.
The following 12 projects were selected:
- Integrated Electrical and Optical Characterization of Silicon Thin Films – NREL and CSM, $99,818;
- Redox-Tunable Polymers for OPV active layers – NREL and CSU, $100,000;
- Group IV Nanowire Photovoltaics – CSM, $100,000;
- InVitro Evolution of RNA-Inorganic Catalysts for the Conversion of CO2 to Alcohols – CU, $100,000;
- Optimizing Cu2ZnSnS4-based Photovoltaic Devices for Thin Films – CSU and Wyoming, $75,000;
- Group IV Quantum Dots for 3rd Generation Photovoltaics – NREL and CU, $95,000.
- Probing Critical Interfaces in 2nd and 3rd Generation Photovoltaics with Nonlinear Optics – NREL and CU, $100,000;
- Spatially-resolved Spectroscopic Studies of Small Ordered Crystals of Semiconductor Nanocrystals – NREL and CSU, $100,000;
- Nanoscale Engineering of Functional Metal Oxides for Photocatalysts and Photovoltaics – CSM, $98,893;
- Plasma Processing for Improved Understanding and Control of Film Properties and Interfaces with Organic/Polymeric/Hybrid Solar Cells – CSU, $100,000;
- Fundamental Studies of Polyoxometallage-Based Nano-Materials for Photoelectrochemical Water Splitting – NREL and CSM, $100,000; and
- Development of an Economical Catalyst for Water Oxidation (solar fuels) – CU, $100,000.
