Date: Jul 14, 2009 Source: (
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THE POST-STANDARD Antek Inc. is developing a cheaper process for making photovoltaic cells in a lab at Syracuse University's Physics Building. SU physics professor Eric Schiff (left) is a solar cell researcher. Anthony Terrinoni (center) is chief operating officer. Sean Gifford (right) is chief scientific officer.
Syracuse, NY -- The subbasement may seem an odd place to research power from the sun, but 48 steps below the ground level of the Physics Building at Syracuse University, a group of researchers is testing and re-testing an idea that could make building solar energy panels much cheaper.
Antek Inc., a Syracuse-based company headed by Anthony Terrinoni, is working with SU physics professor Eric Schiff to eliminate a complex and expensive step in the way solar cells are made. The two were brought together last year by Edward Bogucz, executive director of the Center of Excellence, which is helping to fund the work.
In the standard process, thin wafers of silicon and phosphorous are heated in large ovens and exposed to boron gas. The boron diffuses into the wafers. The resulting material, called a photovoltaic cell, makes electricity when exposed to light.
Antek's alternative creates the same sort of cells by passing the wafers under something like an ink jet printer, said Terrinoni.
Spritzing the wafers with a proprietary mixture of chemicals instead of using the oven and gas could reduce production costs by 10 percent, maybe even 20 percent, said Schiff. Making solar that much cheaper would drive up demand for solar cells, he said, "probably double the market."
David Lassman / The Post-StandardAntek Inc. solar cell researcher Corey Centerwall has placed a solar wafer in this sunlight simulator for testing in a lab at the Syracuse University Physics Building.
In the subbasement, Corey Centerwall has been testing bits of treated silicon. The shards are placed under a patch of artificial light that looks like the sun at noon on a cloudless day. Each is tested for electrical output.
The goal, Schiff said, is to equal the output of solar cells created by the standard process.
Another goal is making the idea work as a business. Terrinoni is working on potential business models. One possibility is to work with companies that sell the equipment that makes solar cells. Another is to work directly with solar cell manufacturers. Antek employs two people, one intern and one consultant, Schiff.
DAVID LASSMAN / THE POST-STANDARD These silicon wafers were used in tests of Antek Inc.'s process for creating photovoltaic cells.
Terrinoni said he is hoping to recruit venture capital this fall so that Antek can put together a "lab-scale" production run -- enough to show that what works in the subbasement could work in the real world.
Antek continues to work on another project, a fuel cell that uses microbes to create energy. The focus now is to use glycerin, a waste product from biodiesel production, as fuel.
Terrinoni, a Syracuse native with degrees from LeMoyne College and Boston University, said the market could be ready for the money-saving solar cell idea. The slowed economy has squeezed margins for solar cell makers. Using Antek's technology could be just what they need to hold down costs, he said.
And may be what Antek needs to get out of the subbasement.
