Solar Cells Info

Source: ScienceDaily, Jan. 18, 2009
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/01/090115164518.htm

Inexpensive solar cells, vastly improved medical imaging techniques and lighter and more flexible television screens are among the potential applications envisioned for organic electronics.  Recent experiments conducted by Greg Scholes and Elisabetta Collini of University of Toronto’s Department of Chemistry may bring these within closer reach thanks to new insights into the way molecules absorb and move energy. Their findings will be published in the journal Science on January 16. (more…)

By Henry Fountain, October 6, 2008
Source: New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/07/science/07obsola.html?ref=environment

Photovoltaic cells, the basic building blocks of solar panels, are more efficient and less costly than ever. But manipulating cells (which are usually made of semiconductor materials) and incorporating them into different panel designs is not necessarily easy.  John A. Rogers of the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and colleagues have come up with a novel method for creating extremely thin solar cells that can be combined in flexible, even partially transparent, arrays. Described in Nature Materials, it could be called the rubber-stamp approach. (more…)

A novel photovoltaic technology moves into large-scale production.
By Kevin Bullis, MIT Technology Review, October 17, 2008
Source: http://www.technologyreview.com/energy/21574/

In a significant milestone in the deployment of flexible, printed photovoltaics, Konarka, a solar-cell startup based in Lowell, MA, has opened a commercial-scale factory, with the capacity to produce enough organic solar cells every year to generate one gigawatt of electricity, the equivalent of a large nuclear reactor. (more…)

IMEC and its associated laboratory Institute for Materials Research in MicroElectronics reported they have improved the composition of organic solar cells. Researchers developed conjugated polymers to stabilize the nanomorphology of the active layer.
Source: Semiconductor International, 10/14/2008
http://www.semiconductor.net/article/CA6605199.html

IMEC (Leuven, Belgium) said its associated laboratory Institute for Materials Research in MicroElectronics (IMOMEC, Diepenbeek, Belgium) has developed a method to stabilize organic solar cells, with an order of magnitude improvement in cell lifetimes.  The center, located on the campus of the Hasselt University, said the research paves the way for commercial organic solar cells with an operational lifetime of more than five years. The researchers optimized the nanomorphology of the active layer, creating a more stable mix of organic compounds that can trap photons and transport the light energy to an electrical contact. (more…)

Source: Nanotechwire.com / 19 Oct 2008
http://nanotechwire.com/news.asp?nid=6773

Researchers have created a new material that overcomes two of the major obstacles to solar power: it absorbs all the energy contained in sunlight, and generates electrons in a way that makes them easier to capture.  Ohio State University chemists and their colleagues combined electrically conductive plastic with metals including molybdenum and titanium to create the hybrid material. (more…)

Nuying Huang, Taipei; Esther Lam
Source: DIGITIMES, 11 September 2008
http://www.digitimes.com/news/a20080910PD216.html

While more new thin-film solar cell players from Asia are entering into polysilicon volume production in 2009, many of them have noted that their capacity has already been fully booked. However, their claimed success does hide potential risks as compared to the achievements made by leading players. Given that leading player First Solar has already introduced its cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin-film solar modules into volume production, smaller-scale players have looked into the segment more closely. (more…)

Press release, September 17; Michael McManus
Source: DIGITIMES, 17 September 2008
http://www.digitimes.com/bits_chips/a20080917PR203.html

Manufacturing capacity for thin-film and organic photovoltaics is expected to grow from approximately 2 GWp (Gigawatts at peak sunlight) this year to 29 GWp by 2015 according to a new report from NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm. While First Solar will be hard to pass in the cadmium telluride (CdTe) sector, the race for dominance in the CIGS and OPV sectors has just begun. By 2015 these two sectors combined will account for 19% and 10% of aggregate capacity. At the same time, the value of manufacturing equipment purchased by thin-film PV (TFPV) and organic PV (OPV) firms will grow from US$450 million in 2008 to US$4.8 billion in 2015. (more…)

By Serkan Toto, September 1st, 2008
Source: CrunchGear.com
http://www.crunchgear.com/2008/09/01/japan-gets-inexpensive-yet-innovative-solar-cells/

Japanese companies Gunze and Dai Nippon Printing are each developing new technologies that make it possible to produce low-cost, pigment-sensitized solar cells. Gunze focuses on low-end solar cells that can be used to power smaller electronic appliances or in-store ad displays, for example. Their cells will use a film, which is coated with special pigments, as a power source. Gunze, actually a major underwear maker, says their film is bendable and can therefore be used fexibly. The company is thinking about offering  baseball caps with built-in solar cells to power portable audio players, for example. (more…)

Source: Government News -Australia / 23 June 2008
http://www.governmentnews.com.au/2008/06/23/article/HHUVBSVXUK.html

Australian soldiers will be able to wear and carry new solar technology embedded uniforms and gears, now that researchers at Australian National University (ANU) have won a major defence contract. The Centre for Sustainable Energy Systems (CSES) at ANU has received $2.1 million in defence funding to develop micro-thin and flexible solar energy panels for security applications.
(more…)

Dix Hills, N.Y., May 30, 2008
Source: Solar Thin Films Inc, press release/BusinessWire

Solar Thin Films, Inc. (OTC BB:SLTN.OB), a developer, manufacturer and marketer of manufacturing equipment for the production of “thin-film” amorphous silicon and CIGS photovoltaic modules, has signed a memorandum of understanding (“MOU”) with China Singyes Holding Limited to build out 100MW of module manufacturing capacity in China. Under the MOU, Solar Thin Films will supply equipment, technology and general engineering and design support, and retain certain rights outside of China to market and distribute building integrated photovoltaic (BIPV) products. (more…)