Konarka Technologies, Inc., a developer of Power Plastic®, a material that converts light to energy, announced that it has successfully conducted what it describes as the first-ever demonstration of manufacturing solar cells by inkjet printing.
"Demonstrating the use of inkjet printing technology as a fabrication tool for highly efficient solar cells and sensors with small area requirements is a major milestone," commented Rick Hess, President and CEO at Konarka. "This essential breakthrough in the field of printed solar cells positions Konarka as an emerging leader in printed photovoltaics."
According to the company, inkjet printing is a commonly used technique for controlled deposition of solutions of functional materials in specific locations on a substrate and can provide easy and fast deposition of polymer films over a large area. The demonstration is said to confirm that organic solar cells can be processed with printing technologies with little or no loss compared to "clean room" semiconductor technologies such as spin coating. The most popular printing tool for organic electronics, it is claimed that inkjet printing could become a smart tool to manufacturer solar cells with multiple colors and patterns for lower power requirement products, like indoor or sensor applications. It is also stated that inkjet printing is very promising because the polymer devices can be fabricated very easily because of the compatibility with various substrates and it does not require additional patterning.
