Materials
Applied Nanotech Receives Funds for Thin-Film Solar Inks
17 September 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Applied Nanotech Holdings, Inc., announced that it has been awarded a Phase III SBIR grant, in the amount of $1.6 million, from the US Department of Energy to establish a pilot production facility to manufacture and commercialize its proprietary ink materials for the application of metallic conductor layers on thin silicon solar cells.
Asian Conference on Product Durability and Performance for the Solar Energy Market
16 September 2010POSTED IN Business News
Atlas Material Testing Technology Llc and Underwriters Laboratories are pleased to announce that they are hosting the PV Durability Asia technical conference taking place on 7-8 December 2010 at the Crowne Plaza Century Park Shanghai Hotel in Shanghai, China.
Natcore Increases Thin-Film Growth Rate by Factor of 10
15 September 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Scientists at Natcore Technology Inc. working at the Ohio State University facilities have discovered methods to increase by 10 times the rate at which thin films are grown using Natcore's proprietary liquid phase deposition (LPD) process.
New Solar Nears Completion of Phase One in Development of Solar Tracer
14 September 2010POSTED IN Applications News
LadyBug Resource Group announced today that its subsidiary, New Solar Electricity Corporation, is nearing completion of Phase One in the development of Solar Tracer, its novel solar concentrator.
Better Solar Cells Might Come From Mixing Mismatched Elements
13 September 2010POSTED IN Research
In what could be a step toward higher efficiency solar cells, researchers from the University of Michigan and the Tyndall National Institute in Ireland have invalidated the most commonly used model to explain the behavior of a unique class of materials called highly mismatched alloys.
Apollo Solar Energy Ups Tellurium Manufacturing
13 September 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Apollo Solar Energy, Inc. today announced that it expects to initiate a large scale project to update and expand its current manufacturing process and production capacity for 5N high purity tellurium (Te), the core material of cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar photovoltaics (PV).
Saint-Gobain Solar Introduces LightSwitch Portfolio of Solutions for Photovoltaic Modules
06 September 2010POSTED IN New Products
Saint-Gobain Solar, a leading manufacturer of sustainable materials and engineered renewable energy solutions, introduces its new LightSwitch portfolio of solutions, including LightSwitch Frontsheet, LightSwitch Encapsulant, and LightSwitch Frontsheet Complete, as well as a design program for photovoltaic (PV) module manufacturers.
Report Includes Crystalline Si Solar Cell and PV Module Key Patent Analysis
02 September 2010POSTED IN Applications News
Solar & Energy has published "Crystalline Si Solar Cell and PV Module Key Patent Analysis" report which analyzes disclosed and registered patents in Korea, Japan, Europe and US from 13 July, 1976 to 26 January, 2010 as well as INPADOC and G-PAT patent database.
Deposition Sciences Celebrates 25th Anniversary with Awards
02 September 2010POSTED IN Business News
Deposition Sciences, Inc. (DSI), manufacturer of highly durable thin film optical coatings, announces the company is celebrating 25 years of providing reliable and rugged optical thin film coatings to industries such as biomedical, aerospace, military/defense, ophthalmology, lighting, imaging, life sciences, digital projection/display, telecommunications, and entertainment.
Greening The Solar Industry
24 August 2010POSTED IN Business Features
Solar energy is green energy, or so we think. It’s a relatively clean way of producing electricity, but the manufacturing of traditional silicon-based solar panels may present health and environmental hazards. Recent governmental regulations and heightened sustainability concern among businesses are giving rise to a new consciousness.
DuPont Expands Production of PVF Polymer Resin for Tedlar Films
26 August 2010POSTED IN New Products
DuPont announced that production of polyvinyl fluoride (PVF) polymer resin, a critical raw material used to make DuPont Tedlar PVF film, has begun at the DuPont Fayetteville Works facility in Fayetteville, North Carolina.
New NIR-Absorbing Dyes for Organic Solar Cells
26 August 2010POSTED IN Research
A series of new NIR-absorbing merocyanine dyes synthesized by researchers at Universität Würzburg and Universität zu Köln could find use in organic solar cell technology such as tandem solar cells or solar power windows.
Photo caption: Researchers used NIR-absorbing merocyanine dyes to create this transparent device that is on top of a university seal.
Frost & Sullivan Reports on Opportunities for New Entrants in Solar Market
23 August 2010POSTED IN Business News
According to a recent study performed by Frost & Sullivan, titled Overview of the Investment Attractiveness of Selected Parts of the Value Chain: Wind and Solar Power, markets for certain components of the wind and solar industry will present budding opportunities for new entrants, as growth rates are expected to exceed present manufacturing capacity.
New Acceptors for Organic Solar Cells
20 August 2010POSTED IN Research
Researchers from the Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) in Singapore have synthesized new acceptors that could help reduce the cost of organic solar cells and make them easier to produce.
PetersenDean Solar to Launch Innovative New Solar Mounting Hardware
19 August 2010POSTED IN New Products
PetersenDean Roofing and Solar announced today that it is set to roll out a new innovative solar mounting hardware that will improve curb side appeal, increase system output and drive down installation cost by as much as 20%.
Polyolefin Encapsulant Films for Photovoltaic Modules
30 April 2011POSTED IN New Products
The Dow Chemical Company is introducing ENLIGHT Polyolefin Encapsulant Films, which can enhance efficiencies in photovoltaic (PV) module production and lead to lower conversion costs. The films also can provide greater module stability and improved electrical performance versus traditional encapsulants, such as EVA-based products, which improves the reliability and extends the service life of PV modules. The new encapsulant films are suitable for C-Si and thin-film modules.
Solar Windows Development
10 August 2010POSTED IN Research
An international team of scientists and industrialists met at the University of Leicester to launch a collaboration between EnSol AS and the University of Leicester to develop a new technique for harnessing green energy.
The inside of the deposition chamber as scientists are depositing the insulating film. Credit: Prof. Chris Binns, University of LeicesterEnSol AS has patented a novel thin-film solar cell technology that they seek to develop commercially by 2016. The company is working with the University of Leicester to develop the solar cell material that could be coated as a thin film on, for example, windows in buildings to produce power on a large scale.
The material is composed of metal nanoparticles (~10 nm in diameter) embedded in a transparent composite matrix. It is a transparent thin film that can be coated onto window glass or onto the structural material of the building. Because it can be put onto large areas it could be cheaper than conventional devices.
According to the company, the basic concept for the solar cell has been demonstrated. A thin-film deposition system with nanoparticle source will be designed and constructed in collaboration with the University of Leicester to fabricate prototype cells based on this design. This experimental facility will produce solar cells with an active area in excess of 16 cm2 (40 mm x 40 mm) deposited onto standard glass substrates. The project will refine the technology to achieve a cell efficiency of 20% or greater.
Related Story:
New Energy Unveils Technology To ‘Spray’ Solar Cells Onto Windows To Generate Electricity
System Detects Trace Impurities in III-V Semiconductor Manufacturing
09 August 2010POSTED IN Research
In a step toward solving a long-standing problem in semiconductor manufacturing, scientists have developed a way to detect traces of contaminant molecules in the arsine gas used to make a variety of semiconductor devices including solar cells.
Solutia Encapsulant Combats Module Corrosion
04 August 2010POSTED IN New Products
Solutia Inc. announced an advanced encapsulant designed to prevent corrosion in solar cells.
Study Confirms XsunX Technology's Role in CIGS Market
04 August 2010POSTED IN Business News
XsunX, Inc. announced the results from a study done by IBIS Associates, Inc. regarding the potential impact of XsunX's hybrid solar technology, CIGSolar, on the global solar photovoltaic (PV) market in terms of efficiency and savings.
