Silver ink promises cheaper, more efficient PV
Researchers have developed a conductive ink that can print
high-performance electrical circuits on flexible surfaces, including
solar panels.
They have claimed advances in silver ink technology that can
potentially both cut the costs of solar photovoltaics, and increase
their efficiency by about 1p.c.
This is a significant jump, considering it comes from just one small
piece of the solar panel puzzle. And what, you may be wondering, is
silver ink? It's a conductive material that's used to print
high-performance electrical circuits on flexible substrates.
Aapplications
Among the many applications: batteries, displays, wearable electronic
clothing and, yes, solar panels.The team led by Prof Jennifer Lewis has
developed a silver ink that, unlike prior versions, has no particles in
its initial solution form.
 This is important because particles can clog nozzles and limit how
small the patterned features can be. Now nozzles as small as 100
nanometers can be used, yielding printed features that are only 5
microns wide.
The result: much finer line widths and, because silver blocks light,
significantly more efficient conversion of solar energy to electricity.
Younan Xia, a Georgia Tech professor and leading authority in this
area, calls the Lewis team's approach "novel".
He notes that the new silver ink also goes through a hardening
process, called annealing, at a relatively low temperature, thereby
reducing costs and making possible the use of less expensive substrates.
Both Xia and Lewis see the new technology as a significant advance,
but something less than a breakthrough.
Metals
"For conductive ink, people are looking to migrate from silver to
less expensive metals such as copper and nickel. Now that will be a
breakthrough", says Lewis.
A "significant number" of corporations, including major chemical and
display companies, have contacted the research team about licensing the
technology. The new silver ink is breakthrough enough for them,
apparently.
- Green Futures
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