Jehad El-Demellawi - العربية

Silver consumption is the key driver of silicon solar cell prices. Thus, relying on silver amid the increasing large-scale deployment of photovoltaics would constrain the production capacity of silicon solar cells. Realizing this, he designed an optimized synthesis and processing protocol of a specific advanced nanomaterial (titanium carbide MXene) that costs less and can be deposited over large areas while offering tunable functionalities and comparable performance to expensive materials like silver.

His filed U.S. patent shows that the total cost of the new solar cell device is reduced by more than 25%. On an industrial level, such a cost reduction would significantly impact the deployment of such technology, particularly in the year-long shiny MENA region.