University of Salford - Solar-panel research wins funds

The future of solar-power generation could be shaped by a University of Salford project to improve the efficiency and durability of thin-film solar-cell panels. Researchers at its Institute for Materials Research have won funding to explore ways of reproducing a new version of the technology on a mass scale. Arthur Hill, the project leader, said he hoped that a method used in coated-glass manufacturing would prove transferable to solar-cell film. If successful, the new cells, which have high resistance to radiation and can absorb 99 per cent of sunlight, could be used on Earth or in space.