1 December 2011

Magnolia Solar receives $750,000 Phase II award from AFRL

Magnolia Solar Corp of Woburn, MA and Albany, NY, USA says that its subsidiary Magnolia Solar Inc has received a $750,000 Phase II award from the US Air Force Research Laboratory as part of the Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) program. The award will fund a two-year project to develop flexible, lightweight, ultra-high efficiency multi-junction solar cells for space power applications.

The award follows a Phase I program that demonstrated Magnolia’s approach to simultaneously increasing the current and voltage output of photovoltaic devices for space power applications. The Phase II award aims to optimize the device and apply advanced anti-reflective coatings to build ultra-high-efficiency flexible solar power solutions for defense applications.

Magnolia is building a patent portfolio around its proprietary technologies for this award and other work with government funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the US National Aeronautical Space Administration (NASA). Recently Magnolia announced demonstration of several significant milestones, and this award provides a pathway to support its ultimate goal of developing low-cost, high-efficiency, thin-film solar cells for commercial and defense requirements.

“Photovoltaic devices can provide a mobile source of electrical power for a variety of military applications in space and terrestrial environments,” says Magnolia Solar Corp’s president & CEO Dr Ashok K. Sood. “Many of these applications can directly benefit from enhancements in the efficiency of the photovoltaic devices. In particular, flexible, lightweight, high-efficiency solar cells are needed to maximize the power-generating capability of space, ground-based, and air-based defense applications,” he adds. The patent-pending technology developed during this program is expected to have immediate market opportunities for defense applications. “We look forward to continuing our partnerships with MicroLink Devices and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute during this Phase II program,” continues Sood.

“Current approaches to increase the efficiency of multi-junction structures typically used for space power generation are reaching practical limitations due to fundamental constraints in conventional multi-junction device design,” notes Magnolia’s chief technical officer Dr Roger E. Welser. “By combining wide- and narrow-bandgap material within each p-n junction, quantum-structured solar cells can overcome these constraints and increase the current and the voltage output of each subcell within a multi-junction solar cell,” he adds.

“The Phase I effort leveraged the epitaxial liftoff process developed at MicroLink Devices in Niles, IL, and has demonstrated the validity of Magnolia’s extended heterojunction photovoltaic device concept,” Welser notes. “Ultimately our approach provides a pathway for obtaining thin, flexible, multi-junction solar cells with efficiency approaching 40%.”

Tags: Magnolia Solar Multi-junction solar cells

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