US-Egypt Joint Workshop on Solar Energy Systems and Materials, Cairo, Egypt, March 2011

Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond VA

Investigators

Abstract

1037104 McLeskey Description: This award supports a US-Egypt Workshop on Solar Energy Systems and Materials to be held in Cairo in February 2011. The organizers are Dr. James McLeskey from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond and Dr. Mohamed Abdel-Mottaleb of Nile University, in Cairo, Egypt. Topics to be covered include lowering the costs of photovoltaic technology, increasing the efficiency of next generation photovoltaic technology, storing solar energy using hydrogen, and integrating solar technology into the grid. The workshop will include 14 US scientists and engineers and 4 US graduate students as well as participants from Egypt and other countries in the Middle East. The workshop will have four scientific emphases: Grid Parity 1: Increasing the efficiency and stability of next generation low-cost photovoltaic technology (primarily organic devices including dye-sensitized solar cells and polymer solar cells); Grid Parity 2: Lowering the manufacturing costs of current photovoltaic technology (new process technology for crystalline silicon as well as the use of nano-structured silicon, silicon nanowires, and graphene electrodes); Power Transmission: Integrating solar technology into the grid; Solar Thermal: Investigating advanced heat transfer fluids and materials for solar thermal energy storage with applications to concentrated solar power and industrial process heat. Intellectual Merit: The topic of the conference is clearly of great interest. Solar energy is thought to be the major source for a non-carbon-based alternative energy, yet the best current technologies rely on crystalline silicon which is difficult to manufacture and therefore expensive. Alternative technologies using quantum dots or dye-sensitized solar cells use components that are rare or too toxic for mass production. The workshop will foster new collaborations which can address these issues and help decrease the cost and increase the efficiency of solar cells. The US will gain access to potential graduate students and a great region to test solar technologies. Egypt will get important training in state of the art solar technology. The two groups in the US and in Egypt are active in silicon-based PV. The Egyptian organizer is working closely with the Egyptian Nanotechnology Center which is investigating low-cost, thin-film photovoltaics, low-cost graphene electrodes, and computational modeling and simulation of a-Si structures and hydrogen passivation. Broader Impact: The workshop will facilitate the exchange of scientific information, ideas, and experiences between US and scientists in the Middle East. It will help build collaborations to promote solar energy systems and materials for the benefit of society. The research outlined is relevant since increased efficiency and lower cost for PV devices and materials could help reduce the world's dependence on non-renewable sources of energy. The workshop will also support the training for young scientists and women from the U.S. and form Egypt. It will provide a forum to discuss graduate education in solar energy systems and materials in the US and Egypt. The education of the next generation of scientists and engineers could play an important role in further research in this area. Many of the Egyptian participants in the workshop are female. This workshop is funded partly under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program. The Division of Civil, Mechanical and Manufacturing Innovations and the Chemistry Division are also co-funding the project with the Office of International Science and Engineering.