Aktualności

On February 6, 2023, Justyna Pastuszak, MSc., a fourth-year doctoral student at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of Lublin University of Technology, became a laureate of the 13th edition of the National Student-Inventor Competition, organized by Kielce University of Technology. The main prize in the Competition is the presentation and promotion of the winner's solutions during the International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva (Geneva Inventions 2023) as well as during the International Warsaw Invention Show (IWIS 2023).

Justyna Pastuszak received the main prize for a series of inventions entitled "Method of manufacturing a silicon photovoltaic cell with an additional energy level in the forbidden band", made by ion implantation based on silicon doped with boron, phosphorus and antimony. A beneficial effect of the inventions, taking into account the current directions of development of the silicon cell manufacturing technology, based on ever-widening use of ion implantation in the production process, is the reduction of the implementation costs of the invention as well as the increase in the profitability of the use of silicon cells by increasing their efficiency. The use of ion implantation technology makes it possible to generate additional energy levels in the forbidden band of the semiconductor, which translates into an increase in the efficiency of the photoconversion phenomenon, and thus the profitability of using the developed solution.

One of the current methods of increasing the efficiency of PV cells is the introduction of additional energy levels in the forbidden band of the semiconductor (e.g. IBSC and IPV cells). The invention is a consequence of many years of research on the identification and development of a method for generating additional energy levels in silicon, which allowed for the creation of a prototype of a high-efficiency photovoltaic cell.

All research work carried out by Justyna Pastuszak, which led to the creation of the awarded solutions, are conducted under the scientific supervision of Prof. Paweł Węgierek, who is the supervisor of her PhD thesis.

The National Student-Inventor Competition is addressed to students, doctoral students and graduates who, during their studies, became the creators/co-creators of an invention, utility or industrial model protected by exclusive law or submitted for protection at the Patent Office of the Republic of Poland or an industrial property office abroad. Inventions and designs created as part of international cooperation and co-created by students of foreign universities may also be submitted to the Competition.

In the academic community, the National Student-Inventor Competition is very popular, as evidenced by the large number of applications. This year's edition received 123 solutions developed by 285 inventors from 23 universities and research institutes from all over Poland. Lublin University of Technology submitted 12 solutions. In the 13th edition of the Student-Inventor Competition, the competition commission awarded five equal main prizes.