A research team from Swedish laboratories Empa has found a cost-effective replacement for indium tin oxide (ITO) that can be used in large-scale applications.
The team, in collaboration with screen printing firm Sefar, has developed a flexible, woven polymer, with integrated metal nanowires, which can be manufactured on a large scale using a roll-to-roll technique. This will allow for large-area solar cells to be produced in a more cost-effective way. The plastic will not cover the nanowires entirely, enabling it to harness the conductivity, according to a report by A to Z Nanotechnology.
The Empa team applied multiple coatings to the substrate in order to develop an organic solar cell that continues to remain stable, even when stretched out of shape.
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A to Z Nanotechnology report
Textile Electrodes for Flexible Thin Film Photovoltaic Solar Cells
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Subscribe to +Plastic Electronics magazine
Subscribe to +Plastic Electronics magazine, published six times a year, for just £100/€110/$160. Find out more here
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Nano solar developer secures funding to commercialise technology
A Norwegian company developing a new thin-film solar cell has begun a programme to develop a prototype by 2013, with the aim of commercialisation by 2015 at the earliest
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Textured substrates raise organic solar cell efficiencies
US-based researchers at the Ames Laboratory and Iowa State University have developed a process for applying a thin and uniform light-absorbing layer on textured substrates that improves the efficiencies of polymer solar cells by increasing light absorption
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The Future of Flexible and Thin-Film PVs
Technology forecasts to 2019, published by IntertechPira
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