| Scope |
The recent developments and innovations of solar cell silicon technologies have improved the efficiencies of solar cells, and the costs have been cut dramatically along the production value chain. In addition, innovations in energy storage systems using silicon as a storage material are going to solve the energy storage problem with costs less than those of traditional lithium-ion batteries, and pumped hydrogen storage. Breakthroughs in silicon electronics produced advances in the speed of the microelectronics devices and down-scaled the physical size of devices and wires to the nanometer regime. This symposium will cover the major topics:
- Primary silicon production: Silicon is a feedstock for everyday products. Its production from quartz and carbon is the beginning and energy- and resource-efficient technologies and deep understanding is necessary for a sustainable production.
- Silicon solar cells: The most important feedstock for crystalline solar cells is high purity silicon. For the industry to mature and grow into green production, improvements in Si production, refining and crystallization processes, emission control and recycling needs to be carried out.
- Silicon as a storage material: Since silicon is the most energy-dense material in the world, it is more efficient than graphite for battery anodes. And using silicon melt to store and generate energy is a profitable and viable alternative for renewable energy generation and storage.
- Recycling and environment: Silicon as used in solar cells and batteries is an important contributor to the renewable energy transition. Discussion of the life-cycle of silicon related technologies is important to find energy- and resource-efficient solutions.
In addition, abstracts are being solicited for the following topics:
• Silicon feedstock production (reduction of silica and silica ores, advances in furnace design and process intensification, novel techniques of silicon production).
• Advanced silicon separation.
• Interaction of materials with silicon during the processes, novelties in ingot growth, and life-cycle assessment of solar silicon processing.
• Wafering techniques.
• Thin flexible silicon films.
• Silicon refining and behavior of impurities (all types of metallurgical upgrading approaches: solvent refining, slag refining, electrolysis/FCC Cambridge process, gas blowing/oxidation refining, plasma refining, vacuum refining, solidification techniques, optimization of the Siemens-like routes).
• Recycling of solar silicon components, solar cells and electronic components.
• Composite silicon anodes for lithium ion batteries
• Melting silicon.
• Silicon alloys and silicon as a reducing agent (instead of carbon) for making other metals.
• Production and characterization of silicon nanoparticles and silicon nanocomposites.
• Performance of silicon solar cells, silicon anodes, and silicon microsystems.
• Characterization of doped and undoped single crystalline silicon, defects in silicon, silicon bonding, polysilicon, nanosilicon, nanoporous energetic silicon materials.
• Thermodynamic and kinetic modeling of silicon, silicon compounds, and alloys.
• Silicon metal refining, technical applications, recycling, and technologies.
• Mechanical strength, corrosion, fracture in silicon wafers and polycrystalline silicon in microsystems,
• Silicon in electronic industry, Siemens and other CVD processes.
• Metallurgical processes, e.g. ferrosilicon production.
• Silicon photonics, irradiation effects, and energy losses in silicon.
• Silicon in everyday life
• Experimental and computational characterization of silicon properties, modeling, and simulations. |