Applied Nanotech and UDC benefit from latest DoE programme

Sara Ver-Bruggen - 17 Sep 2010

Two technology firms in the plastic electronics industry have won funding under a Department of Energy (DoE) programme to support the commercialisation of their respective technologies in solar and low-energy lighting.

Applied Nanotech, in Texas, has garnered $1.6 million (€1.2 million) to establish a pilot production line to manufacture and its specialist nanomaterials inks. The award will fund development of the inks for us in the PV module production industry.

The inks can be deposited - using techniques akin to inkjet printing - as metallic conductor layers on photovoltaics (PVs). Adopting such processes can help cut the cost of silicon PV production. Such printing techniques can fabricate thinner solar cells and use less silicon, as the deposition process is non-contact and will not break fragile, thinner layers. Narrower connectors also expose more of the cell surface to sunlight, increasing efficiencies.

DoE programme

The funding is in the form of a grant under the DoE's Small Business Phase III Xlerator programme, which has a total of $57 million at its disposal, to give to small US businesses commercialising technologies for renewable energy and clean tech applications.

According to Zvi Yaniv, Applied Nanotech's CEO, the PV industry has high potential for the company's conductive inks, as manufacturers look to shave costs off module production. Applied Nanotech is also focused on commercialising a nanocopper version of its ink in printed circuit boards (PCB), another industry looking to reducing overheads by adopting alternative production techniques.

OLED lighting

Universal Display Corporation (UDC), in New Jersey, is also one of the 33 small businesses selected for grants under the programme. The company has been awarded $2 million to continue with its development of energy-saving phosphorescent OLED lights, competitive with linear fluorescent technology.

Working with the company Acuity Brands Lighting, UDC proposes to develop a general purpose luminaire for high-end commercial and institutional building applications. These will use UDC's so-called 'striped' phosphorescent OLED panels.

The luminaire will have a total luminous output of 4,000-5,000 lumens, a tunable correlated colour temperature of 2,700-4,000K, an overall luminaire efficacy (including driver) of over 70lm/W, an initial panel luminous emittance of 6,000lm/m2, and a lifetime of 25,000 hours.

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