Professor Stuart Wenham, director of the ARC Photovoltaics Centre of Excellence at the University of New South Wales and CTO of PV manufacturer Suntech-Power, will give this year’s IET A F Harvey Engineering research prize lecture. The event will be held on 21 May at the Royal College of Surgeons in London, UK.
The 2013 winner of the prize, receiving £300,000 from the UK Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET), Professor Wenham’s lecture will cover trends in photovoltaic technology and highlight the role of lasers in the design and fabrication of high efficiency solar cells.
Pioneering work with lasers at The University of New South Wales (UNSW) has led to the development of several new successful photovoltaic technologies and numerous accompanying performance records.
Among other laser processing techniques, Professor Wenham will speak on the topic of using lasers for hydrogen charge state control to greatly enhance hydrogen passivation techniques for improving wafer bulk and surface qualities.
The advanced hydrogenation technology has attracted funding from many industry partners including several of the world's largest solar cell manufacturers as well as from the Australian Government through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA).
The funding from the award will allow an expansion of this work to cover more academically interesting aspects of the work associated with the reactivity and mobility of the hydrogen.
