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Impact on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Analysis of institutional authors

Del Cañizo C.AuthorFuertes Marrón D.AuthorDasilva Villanueva N.AuthorCaballero L.j.Author

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Production of upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon for a low-cost, high-efficiency, and reliable PV technology

Publicated to:Frontiers In Photonics. 5 - 2024-01-01 5(), DOI: 10.3389/fphot.2024.1331030

Authors: Míguez Novoa JM; Hoffmann V; Forniés E; Mendez L; Tojeiro M; Ruiz F; Funes M; del Cañizo C; Fuertes Marrón D; Dasilva Villanueva N; Caballero LJ; Arıkan B; Turan R; Canar HH; Sánchez Plaza G

Affiliations

Aurinka PV Group; Rivas-Vaciamadrid; Spain - Author
FerroGlobe; Arteixo; Spain - Author
Instituto de Energía Solar; ETSI Telecomunicación; Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; Madrid; Spain - Author
Nanophotonics Technology Center–Universidad Politécnica de Valencia; Valencia; Spain - Author
ODTÜ-GÜNAM (Center for Solar Energy Research and Applications); Ankara; Turkey - Author
ODTÜ-GÜNAM (Center for Solar Energy Research and Applications); Ankara; Turkey; Department of Physics; Middle East Technical University; Ankara; Turkey - Author
ODTÜ-GÜNAM (Center for Solar Energy Research and Applications); Ankara; Turkey; Micro and Nanotechnology; Middle East Technical University; Ankara; Turkey - Author
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Abstract

Upgraded metallurgical-grade silicon (UMG-Si) has the potential to reduce the cost of photovoltaic (PV) technology and improve its environmental profile. In this contribution, we summarize the extensive work made in the research and development of UMG technology for PV, which has led to the demonstration of UMG-Si as a competitive alternative to polysilicon for the production of high-efficiency multicrystalline solar cells and modules. The tailoring of the processing steps along the complete Ferrosolar’s UMG-Si manufacturing value chain is addressed, commencing with the purification stage that results in a moderately compensated material due to the presence of phosphorous and boron. Gallium is added as a dopant at the crystallization stage to obtain a uniform resistivity profile of ∼1 Ω cm along the ingot height. Defect engineering techniques based on phosphorus diffusion gettering are optimized to improve the bulk electronic quality of UMG-Si wafers. Black silicon texturing, compatible with subsequent gettering and surface passivation, is successfully implemented. Industrial-type aluminum back surface field (Al-BSF) and passivated emitter and rear cell (PERC) solar cells are fabricated, achieving cell efficiencies in the range of those obtained with conventional polysilicon substrates. TOPCon solar cell processing key steps are also tested to further evaluate the potential of the material in advanced device architectures beyond the PERC. Degradation mechanisms related to light exposure and operation temperature are shown to be insignificant in UMG PERC solar cells when a regeneration step is implemented, and PV modules with several years of outdoor operation demonstrated similar performance to reference ones based on poly-Si. Life cycle analysis (LCA) is carried out to evaluate the environmental impact of UMG-based PV technology when compared to poly-Si-based technology, considering different scenarios for both the manufacturing sites and the PV installations. Copyright © 2024 Míguez Novoa, Hoffmann, Forniés, Mendez, Tojeiro, Ruiz, Funes, del Cañizo, Fuertes Marrón, Dasilva Villanueva, Caballero, Arıkan, Turan, Canar and Sánchez Plaza.

Keywords

Responsible consumption and production

Quality index

Impact and social visibility

From the perspective of influence or social adoption, and based on metrics associated with mentions and interactions provided by agencies specializing in calculating the so-called "Alternative or Social Metrics," we can highlight as of 2025-06-12:

  • The use, from an academic perspective evidenced by the Altmetric agency indicator referring to aggregations made by the personal bibliographic manager Mendeley, gives us a total of: 10.
  • The use of this contribution in bookmarks, code forks, additions to favorite lists for recurrent reading, as well as general views, indicates that someone is using the publication as a basis for their current work. This may be a notable indicator of future more formal and academic citations. This claim is supported by the result of the "Capture" indicator, which yields a total of: 8 (PlumX).

With a more dissemination-oriented intent and targeting more general audiences, we can observe other more global scores such as:

  • The Total Score from Altmetric: 0.5.
  • The number of mentions on the social network X (formerly Twitter): 1 (Altmetric).

It is essential to present evidence supporting full alignment with institutional principles and guidelines on Open Science and the Conservation and Dissemination of Intellectual Heritage. A clear example of this is:

  • The work has been submitted to a journal whose editorial policy allows open Open Access publication.
Continuing with the social impact of the work, it is important to emphasize that, due to its content, it can be assigned to the area of interest of ODS 12 - Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns, with a probability of 0% according to the mBERT algorithm developed by Aurora University.

Leadership analysis of institutional authors

This work has been carried out with international collaboration, specifically with researchers from: Turkey.