After oxygen, Silicon (Si) is the most abundant element in the Earth's crust making up for 25.7% (257,000 ppm) by mass. Although there are some non-silicon solar cells available, they invariably make use of rare and heavy metals, such as Tellurium (Te) with abundance similar to Platinum (0.001 ppm) or Indium (In), an important raw material for liquid crystal displays, which, with 0.1 ppm, is about as abundant as silver.

It is our belief that in order to make a meaningful contribution to the world’s energy and environmental needs, it is essential to construct solar cells out of abundantly available raw materials and to avoid rare and heavy metals.

The silicon PV is today’s most successful solar cell and, because of the abundance of its raw material, is likely to stay the dominant technology in the XXI century.
For this reason, 1366 Technologies is focusing its efforts on silicon, rather than looking for exotic designs and materials, to generate the efficiency improvements necessary to make solar energy competitive with coal generation.