US-based New Energy Technologies has been able to produce its latest SolarWindow prototype using a process that can be scaled up more quickly towards commercial production and at faster speeds.
The company's enhanced scale-up process still allows for the application of its electricity-generating coatings to be applied at room temperature onto glass. The technology forms the basis of translucent window and glass products for building-integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) applications.
The new solution-coating method is an alternative to the spray coating process the company has been using and allows for rapid scale-up to larger glass surface areas. The advanced process also allows for more uniform application of functional coatings, to make the company's SolarWindows.
The technique has been demonstrated as compatible with roll-to-roll fabrication methods, potentially providing for large-scale manufacturing. Earlier in 2011, New Energy researchers successfully applied the SolarWindow electricity-generating coatings onto flexible plastic, which could be developed in time as a tinted window film that also produces electricity.
Commercialisation
Several firms are in the running to commercialise low-cost solar cell processes based on organic electronic materials. Konarka in the US is working with partners to integrate its PowerPlastic film into new types of building-integrated and automotive-integrated PV applications.
Heliatek, which is commercialising a vacuum deposition roll-to-roll process, expects to announce an application in the BIPV field in 2012.
Solarmer in the US will most likely make commercial announcements regarding its roll-to-roll-printed solar cell technology in the first half of 2012 and is targeting portable power applications as initial commercial opportunities for its technology.
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New Energy Technologies
The company is honing its SolarWindow technology for market
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Plastic electronics promises energy everywhere
In 2010, the US Energy Information Administration noted that global energy consumption has risen from 355 quadrillion British thermal units (Btu) in 1990 to 495 quadrillion Btu in 2007. The figure for global energy consumption is expected to grow to 739 quadrillion Btu in 2035
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