Manchester based Colour Synthesis Solutions (CSS) has announced it has secured a major grant as part of an international renewable energy collaboration.
Over the next three years, CSS will receive £600,000 through the Technology Strategy Board (TSB) to fund advanced solar cell research and development (Project COBRA).
Working alongside Merck (Germany) and Israeli company 3G Solar, CSS will focus on developing novel sensitizer dyes required for Dye Sensitized Cells (DSC), a high efficiency, lower-cost alternative to the traditional Thin Film and Crystalline Silicon cells.
If successful, DSC technology could allow for more efficient energy generation – making solar energy more realistic and cost effective in lower light intensity areas such as the higher and lower hemispheres or even indoor applications.
Business Manager Carl Turner explains: “Although Colour Synthesis Solutions already has a track record of working with some of the world’s biggest chemical companies, COBRA marks a very exciting new move into renewable energy for CSS. The global solar market is worth an estimated £100 Billion – with DSC cells having the potential to be a real game changer.”
The project marks a major milestone for CSS – which started trading only six years ago as a two man spin-out from the University of Manchester. The company recently increased its numbers to 9 chemists with the addition of Dr Karine Ellis, a specialist in the design and synthesis of molecules with optoelectronic properties, who joined CSS’s COBRA team.
As well as COBRA, CSS works with some of the world’s leading chemical manufacturers – including Merck, Henkel, P&G and Unilever.
For more information please contact Dr Carl Turner at CSS on 0161 7211424 or at c.turner@cssolutions.org.uk
