GraphEnergyTech is developing advanced graphene technology for lower-cost and more environmentally-friendly solar cells – and could help save global silver reserves from exhaustion by 2050.

The company, which was incorporated into our portfolio during the year, is developing high-conductivity graphene inks. Initial applications are for graphene electrodes to replace expensive silver electrodes in solar cells. Silver is the most commonly used material for solar cell electrodes, and the solar industry is currently using 100 million troy ounces a year at a cost of at least $2 billion.

Research by the University of New South Wales, Australia, states more than 85 per cent of current silver reserves could be consumed by solar by 2050, with the upper end of its estimates as high as 113 per cent.

GraphEnergyTech’s electrodes are 22 per cent cheaper than silver at pilot stage with further reductions expected as the technology is scaled up. The technology also enables high-efficiency perovskite solar cells by eliminating the risk of performance degradation caused by metal migration. Manufacturing is also easy – the graphene inks can be applied a low-cost screen-printing process, compatible with existing equipment.

Using graphene inks will also reduce the environmentally damaging extraction of metals, including the use of mercury and cyanide.