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DuPont has announced its Solamet PV17x photovoltaic metallization paste has become the leading frontside silver paste series on the market today due to its ability to raise efficiency by up to 0.4% in standard solar cell constructions. Solamet PV17x is also claimed to enable cell makers to use up to 15% less material, in line with the company’s intent to accelerate product developments that help the photovoltaic industry reduce its dependence on silver metals and offset some of the impact that rising silver prices have on the cost of producing solar cells and modules.
Large-scale integrating project, Fast Track, coordinated by Forschungszentrum Jülich, intends to bring to market the next generation of thin-film technology. Eighteen leading EU industries and research institutions have set a target to achieve solar cells with 14% stable efficiency, leading to the reliable production of prototype modules at a level of 12%. The potential cost is expected to be below 0.5/Wp.
MBJ Solutions has completed installation of its electroluminescence inspection systems into the production lines of Centrosolar Sonnenstromfabrik. The new equipment inspects 100% of Centrosolar’s module production to ensure any anomalies, not visible to the naked eye, will be detected.
The journal Nature Photonics reports that researchers at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science and UCLA’s California Nanosystems Institute (CNSI) have significantly enhanced polymer solar cells’ performance. They have used a device with a new “tandem” structure that combines multiple cells with different absorption bands. The device had a certified power-conversion efficiency of 8.62% and set a world record in July 2011.
Flamac, a unit of SIM vzw, advised that it will work with imec to develop new semiconductor materials for solar cell applications. The collaboration will see the companies produce materials that are alternates for the standard CIGS solar cells.
A new world-record efficiency of 8.3% has been claimed for a polymer-based single junction organic solar cell in an inverted device stack. Research house, imec and industrial partners Polyera and Solvay developed the proprietary inverted bulk heterojunction architecture, which resulted in achieving much higher efficiencies that other organic thin film cells have to date. Work is ongoing to increase the cell size and lifetime, a key challenge for organic-based cells.
Research and analysis firm NanoMarkets has published a new report entitled “Emerging Markets for Non-ITO Transparent Conductive Oxides”, detailing the market opportunities for non-indium tin oxide (ITO) TCOs. The report’s findings suggest that the market for these materials will reach approximately US$925 million by 2016.
Magnolia Solar will be updating the scientific community of its results towards the development of a high-efficiency, thin-film solar cell during the 22nd Space Photovoltaic Research and Technology (SPRAT) Conference in Cleveland, Ohio on September 22. Magnolia was working under the Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program funded by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with Kopin Corporation and MicroLink Devices.
Dr. Roger Welser, CTO of Magnolia will present the latest technical results in his “Thin-Film Quantum Well Waveguide Solar Cells,” presentation at the SPRAT conference.
It’s being called the most efficient colloidal quantum dot (CQD) solar cell ever and a team of international researchers is being praised for the new development. Researchers from the University of Toronto (U of T), King Abdullah University of Science & Technology (KAUST) and Pennsylvania State University (Penn State) have created the new CQD solar cell based off the need for a design that compacts quantum dots together so that less distance between the quantum dots equals a higher efficiency.
Solar3D advised that its team of researchers and engineers had completed the design for its new three-dimensional (3-D) solar cell. The company advised that with this latest milestone, it is on target to complete a working prototype by the end of the year.
