Magnolia Solar Corp. wins second U.S. Air Force award to develop ultra-high-efficiency quantum dot solar cells

Posted by Courtney E. Howard

WOBURN, Mass., 4 Aug. 2010. Magnolia Solar Corp., a developer of high-performance, thin-film photovoltaic modules for defense and commercial applications, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar Inc., won a second Phase I SBIR/STTR program from the United States Air Force. This award is to develop high-efficiency, thin-film quantum dot solar cells for defense applications.

The use of quantum dots in thin-film cells has the potential to produce very high-efficiency single junction solar cells. Current technologies typically use multiple junctions (e.g. triple-junction solar cells) to produce high-efficiency solar cells for defense applications. The Magnolia approach being developed under this award will allow lower costs for next-generation, thin-film solar cells with ultra high efficiency.

"This second program from the Air Force adds important core capabilities to our solar cell development effort,” says Dr. Ashok K. Sood, president and CEO of Magnolia Solar Corp., says. “This technology will complement the solar cell development work underway at Magnolia under previous funding from NYSERDA, the U.S. Air Force, and other sources. We are continuing on a path to develop our core technologies for nanostructure/quantum dot based high efficiency thin-film solar cells which have applications in both defense and commercial markets."