Coatings Articles
Solar Windows One Step Closer
04 June 2013POSTED IN Applications News
New Energy Technologies, Inc., developer of a see-through technology capable of generating electricity on glass and flexible plastics, announced today that researchers have achieved important device design, architecture, and transparency goals that now allow the company to advance and expand development efforts of its electricity-generating coatings.
Solar Investing: The time is right
30 May 2013POSTED IN Business News
Overcapacity and poor margins have bankrupted a multitude of solar suppliers and forced corporate investors out of the market over the past two years. However, according to Lux Research, the industry is set to recover quickly thanks to converging supply and demand.
Nanostructure-Coated Black Silicon Solar Cells Via ALD
09 May 2013POSTED IN Research
Aspiring to improve photovoltaic energy conversion efficiency by using latest advances in nanotechnology, researchers at Aalto University, Finland, are combining “black silicon” with the method of atomic layer deposition (ALD). As a result, the nanostructures fabricated by plasma dry etching minimise sunlight reflection. Moreover, a conformal, thin passivating layer, deposited onto the nanostructures through ALD, prevents charge carriers from recombining at the surface.
Pentacene Coating Could Push Solar Cell Efficiency Beyond Shockley-Queisser Limit
25 April 2013POSTED IN Research
Thanks to a new coating developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), solar cells could produce two electrons for every particle of light harvested at the green and blue wavelengths. The research advance could be the key to solar cell efficiencies beyond the Shockley-Queisser limit, which proposes that the ultimate conversion efficiency can never exceed 34% for a single optimised semiconductor junction.
Royal DSM Expands Manufacturing of Solar Coatings
22 April 2013POSTED IN Business News
Royal DSM, a global Life Sciences and Materials Sciences company, has opened its newly constructed manufacturing plant for KhepriCoat anti-reflective coating at the Chemelot site in Geleen (Netherlands). The need for additional coating supply is a direct result of the fast growing market for solar energy.
Trends in Solar PV Coatings
22 April 2013POSTED IN Applications Features
One of the key technological challenges for the solar industry is the need to improve solar cell efficiency. However, any sunlight that is reflected off of a solar module does not reach the solar cells and therefore does not contribute to energy output. Up to 4% of light is reflected on an untreated glass cover - and the bottom line is that this light is lost and cannot be converted into electrical energy.
Royal DSM Acquires Light Trapping Technology for Solar Modules
19 March 2013POSTED IN Applications News
Royal DSM, a global life sciences and materials sciences company, announced that it acquired the SolarExcel company. Based in Venray (Netherlands) SolarExcel has developed a proprietary light trapping technology that can significantly increase the efficiency of solar panels. With the acquisition DSM expands its growing portfolio of solar energy enabling technologies. Financial details of the acquisition are not disclosed.
Yale’s Carbon Nanotube Thin Film Could Advance Si Solar Cells
04 March 2013POSTED IN Research
A carbon nanotube (CNT) thin film developed by researchers at the Yale University could prove a novel and cost-effective way to realise superior photovoltaic properties of crystalline solar cells. The hybrid carbon nanotube/silicon solar cells may have unmatched power conversion efficiency.
Sunrise Achieves 20.3% Efficiency with DuPont Aluminum Pastes
25 February 2013POSTED IN Applications News
DuPont Microcircuit Materials and Sunrise Global Solar Energy Corporation announced today that they have produced solar cells with conversion efficiencies of 20.3% using newly commercialized DuPont Solamet PV36X series aluminum photovoltaic metallization pastes for rear-side passivation of silicon solar cells.
Holographic Optic Could Double Efficiency, Slash Cost of Silicon Solar Modules
18 February 2013POSTED IN Research
The companies Apollon in Dresden, Germany and Solar Bankers in Arizona (US) have collaboratively created silicon-based solar cells that could be twice as efficient as existing panels, thanks to a holographic foil. The enhanced concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) modules use 90% less silicon and could solve the problem of efficiency losses caused by heat. The novel devices, which achieved 28% power conversion efficiency in tests, are thus expected to be inexpensive enough to be manufactured in Germany or the US.
Magnolia Brings Antireflective Coatings Closer to Commercial Viability
31 January 2013POSTED IN Applications News
Magnolia Solar Corporation announced today that its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, achieved high-quality 6-inch growth of nanostructured antireflection (AR) coatings on glass for solar cell applications.
The company says this milestone brings this AR technology closer to commercial viability in the existing solar power market.
Solar Photovoltaic Coatings
20 December 2012POSTED IN Applications Features
In the race for lower cost per watt for solar photovoltaic panels, the importance of thin film coatings is rising.
Magnolia Solar Discusses Optical Coatings for PV
29 November 2012POSTED IN Business News
Magnolia Solar Corporation has announced that Dr. Roger E. Welser, the chief technology officer of its wholly owned subsidiary, Magnolia Solar, Inc., presented a paper at the 2012 Materials Research Society (MRS) Fall Meeting in Boston, Massachusettes, titled “Nanostructured Transparent Conductive Oxides for Photovoltaic Applications,” as part of a special session on PV technologies.
Welser also served a session chair for the session New Concepts, Materials and Technologies for Future Photovoltaics on 28 November.
Next-Generation Anti-Reflective Coatings
03 November 2012POSTED IN Research
The next generation of antireflection (AR) coatings has arrived and could help bump solar cell efficiency considerably by employing a promising new class of optical nanomaterials that allow for near-arbitrary control of the refractive index, conceivably the most important materials constant in optics and optoelectronics. Could these advanced coatings present a critical forward push for solar photovoltaics toward becoming a mainstream source of worldwide electrical power generation?
Europe Sees Solar PV Backsheet Market Falter
11 October 2012POSTED IN Business News
Europe currently leads the solar PV market, but the ongoing impact of the ongoing Euro zone crisis is expected to lead to a drastic decline, according a GlobalData report.
The new report names Europe the largest solar PV backsheet market in the world, with the region accounting for 72.1% of global backsheet installed capacity. However, the maturing market and struggling national finances are expected to cause global solar backsheet revenues to fall in 2012, it says.
US 85.3% of North America PV Backsheet Market, GlobalData Says
10 October 2012POSTED IN Business News
Increasing numbers of policies to promote solar power are emerging at both federal and state level in the US, in a bid to improve energy independence and lower carbon emissions, according a GlobalData report.
The new report says that the US solar power market has recorded massive growth over recent years, as the energy source has established its ability to improve US national energy security and boost the economy. Solar power incentives have resulted in increased installations, boosting demand for solar backsheets in the US.
Asia’s PV Backsheets Market Booms, Report Says
08 October 2012POSTED IN Business News
The Asian solar PV backsheet market is heating up, as Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and China steal focus from the US and Europe, whose finances and demand for PV continue to suffer due to the global economic crisis, according to a new report by GlobalData.
EU PVSEC 2012: Manz exhibits vacuum-coating system for solar cells
25 September 2012POSTED IN New Products
Manz today announced it has entered the market for vacuum-coating systems used in the production of crystalline solar cells with a fully automated system for front and back side coating. Manz exhibits the new coating system for the first time at EU PVSEC this week.
EU PVSEC 2012: Schmid’s APCVD machine achieves 20.74% efficiency in PERC cells
24 September 2012POSTED IN Business News
The Schmid Group today announced an efficiency record of 20.74% in an industry-like production process for PERC solar cells, which has been confirmed independently by the ISE CalLab.
Schmid applied the backside passivation to the PERC solar cell with its APCVD machine, which will be exhibited at EV PVSEC 2012 (booth B06, hall 3.0) in Frankfurt, Germany, 25-28 September.
EU PVSEC 2012: Plansee’s upgraded rotary target
21 September 2012POSTED IN New Products
Plansee today announced it will show its upgraded rotary target, an inner diameter coating for monolithic molybdenum targets that prevents direct contact between the target material and cooling water during the sputtering of CIGS back contacts, at EU PVSEC 2012 (hall 3.0, stand F29) in Frankfurt, Germany, 24-28 September.
