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AnonymousInactivehttp://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41316632/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy/
INKJET PRINTERS MAY BE THE FUTURE OF SOLAR CELLS
Household item could make for a cheaper, thinner and better energy source
The
next generation of cheaper, thinner and better solar cells could come
courtesy of a technology found right in our homes and offices: inkjet
printers.As their name implies, inkjet printers squirt ink onto a
material, such as a paper document or the silicon of a solar cell. The
well-controlled, contactless deposition of inkjetting should make
possible solar cells that are half as thick, yet more efficient at,
soaking up the sun’s rays than today’s industry standard.”Inkjet is very
good at putting down patterned material – anything that has a specific
layout,” said Maikel van Hest, a senior scientist at the National Center
for Photovoltaics at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in
Golden, Colo.Such precision allows for the placement of thinner
metallic grids on silicon solar cells that serve as collectors of
sun-generated electricity. These silver “finger” strips crisscrossing
solar cells measure in the 100- to 120-micrometer — or micron — range,
whereas inkjet-deposited lines can be as narrow as 50 or even 20
microns, van Hest said.The thinner contacts expose more of a solar
cell’s silicon to sunlight, which translates into more electricity
generation. “(These lines) mean less shadows and more light onto the
solar cell,” said van Hest.Using smaller portions of the expensive,
electricity-capturing contact material — silver, a precious metal, being
the most common — dovetails into lower overall unit costs as well.Plus,
the silver inks used in inkjets are more conductive than the pastes
applied to solar cells nowadays, resulting in more efficient harvesting
of electricity.Delicate patterning
Yet another major bonus
for inkjet technology is that it is contactless – the printer apparatus
itself never touches the brittle silicon wafer.Conventional silicon
solar cell manufacturing has relied on a comparatively rougher technique
called screen printing – the same sort often used for making T-shirt
designs, for example – since its early days in the 1970s.With screen
printing, fragility becomes a real issue for silicon wafers around 100
microns or less in height, van Hest said.Whither inkjet?
Given
these benefits, it’s surprising that inkjet printing in solar cell
manufacturing has yet to be deployed commercially. But significant
hurdles remain — some inherent to the technology, and others as a result
of the evolution of the photovoltaic industry.For starters, shifting to
inkjet printing from screen printing will require retrofitting existing
solar cell production facilities, and inkjet printing remains the more
expensive process up front.”Inkjet (printing) is always going to be more
expensive than screen printing,” van Hest said, “but because you use
less material and get more efficiency from the solar cell, you can gain a
cost advantage.”Solar panel manufacturers typically offer a 30-year
warranty for their products, and for now the jury is still out on how
inkjet-made components might hold up in the long run. Van Hest said NREL
is doing accelerated field testing to see if there is a difference
between tried-and-true manufacturing and the inkjet approach.”Companies
don’t want to risk their money going into a new technology and run into
problems in the future,” said van Hest.A bright tomorrow
The
continuing surge of solar cells — which as a means of electricity
generation grew a hundredfold last decade, according to a 2010 report by
the Renewable Energy Policy Network for the 21st Century — might start
changing some industry minds, however.Slashing the amount of silicon and
silver needed per solar cell is among the most direct ways of lowering
the dollar per kilowatt-hour of produced power – a shared goal of the
maturing solar sector.”Inkjet will become interesting if (silicon) wafer
thicknesses go below 50 microns, versus 150 microns today for 100
percent of the market, because non-touch processes will be required,”
said Conrad Burke, the CEO of Innovalight, a California-based company
that has developed an inkjettable ink currently used by screen
printers.Burke sees this inkjet era dawning in about six to eight years.
Van Hest believes inkjet’s adoption will happen alongside many other
emerging photovoltaic technologies, such as thin-film solar cells, and
numerous other manufacturing techniques.”It’s going to be a combination
of all technologies a decade from now,” van Hest told TechNewsDaily. “I
think inkjet printing will be a part of mainstream production technology
for solar cells … the industry is growing fast, so there’s room for
all of this.”http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41316632/ns/technology_and_science-future_of_energy/
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AuthorFebruary 3, 2011 at 8:57 AM
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