NanoSolar Thin Film Solar Cells
19 May 2008, 17:56
Categories: nanoparticles smt-energy-photovoltaic
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Leveraging recent science advances in nanostructured materials, Nanosolar has developed a proprietary ink that makes it possible to simply print the semiconductor of a high-performance solar cell. Their ink is based on nanoparticles that can be uniformly deposited upon a surface. Because it consists of four elements which have to be in just the right atomic ratios to each other, the ink serves a useful purpose by effectively “locking in” a uniform distribution. The homogeneous mix of nanoparticles in the ink, in just the right overall amounts, ensures that the atomic ratios of the four elements are correct wherever the ink is printed, even across large areas of deposition.
The thin-film solar cells consist of the absorber layer (the printed semiconductor) sandwiched in between a top and a bottom electrode layer. If the thin films of the solar cell are deposited directly onto a highly conductive metal foil (as opposed to glass or stainless steel), then the bottom electrode gets much simpler because the substrate can do the job of carrying the current.
Posted by: The Editors
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