Andrew Barron did not set out to revolutionize solar cell technology when he helped to develop the process Natcore now uses, but that’s what the World Technology Network awarded him for doing.

Barron received the World Technology Award on Oct. 26 in recognition for his work in liquid phase deposition.

Barron was a professor at Harvard and worked with Dr. Dennis Flood there. Later, they both found themselves in Texas. Barron is the Charles W. Duncan Jr.-Welch chair of Chemistry at Rice University in Houston.

Flood went to him several years ago and said that NASA was having trouble with the process it used to build materials in layers.

“As it turns out, they were never going to solve that problem,” Barron said.

He and Flood went to work investigating ways to layer materials and discovered the liquid phase deposition method.

After having the method peer-reviewed and verified, Barron and Flood sat down and decided how they would apply the new technology they created—solar.

“A lot of technologies get started and they say ‘we’ve got this new thing, and it could be used for all kinds of things and people will buy it,’” Barron said. “But they don’t because they don’t have, in the lingo of today’s young people, the killer app.”

That’s how he became the co-founder of Natcore.

The killer app for Barron’s technology has proven to be ultra-high-efficiency thin-film solar cells at lower costs. Natcore is preparing to mass produce 14 percent efficient thin-film in 2012.

Barron said he was honored by the award. It’s given by peers who whittle down a large list of nominees to a handful of finalists.

“And just to make it onto that shortlist is quite an honor,” Barron said, “because your peers recognize the impact of your work. It’s always nice to feel recognized.”

The World Technology Award goes to scientists who are shaping the 21st century, according to World Technology Network information.

“It’s interesting that they think it’s my technology that’s going to shape the 21st century,” Barron said. “I don’t know about that. But I hope the legacy of my work will permanently change the way we do things.”