Magnolia Solar Corp., a developer of thin-film photovoltaic modules for defense and commercial applications, announced that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar Inc., has received a second Phase I SBIR/STTR (Small Business Innovation Research/Small Business Technology Transfer) Program award from the US Air Force. The award is to develop high-efficiency, thin-film quantum dot solar cells for defense applications. The use of quantum dots in thin-film cells has the potential to produce very high efficiency single-junction solar cells. Current technologies typically use multiple junctions (e.g., triple-junction solar cells) to produce high-efficiency solar cells for defense applications. According to the company, the Magnolia approach being developed under this award will allow significantly lower costs for next-generation thin-film solar cells with ultrahigh efficiency. "This second program from the Air Force adds important core capabilities to our solar cell development effort. This technology will complement the solar cell development work under way at Magnolia under previous funding from NYSERDA [the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority], the US Air Force and other sources,” said Dr. Ashok K. Sood, CEO of Magnolia Solar Corp. “We are continuing on a path to develop our core technologies for nanostructure/quantum dot-based high-efficiency thin-film solar cells which have applications in both defense and commercial markets." For more information, visit: www.magnoliasolar.com