U.S.-based Innovalight, Inc. yesterday announced the company has achieved a new record of 19 percent conversion efficiency with silicon ink processed solar cells.
The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems (ISE) in Germany, an official independent solar cell testing center, also measured the results on industry standard size cells made by Innovalight.
Innovalight says its proprietary platform offers an easily transferable process to crystalline silicon solar cell manufacturers, allowing them to improve solar cell performance, reduce cost and boost output capacity by adding a single step to already installed manufacturing lines.
Homer Antoniadis, chief technology officer at Innovalight, says the patented solar cell process with silicon ink is simple and optimised for use with silicon wafers and widely adopted industry printing tools.
Innovalight’s silicon ink is comprised of silicon nano-particles dispersed in what it says is an environmentally friendly blend of chemicals. Innovalight is planning to ramp Silicon Ink production to support over 1,000 MW of solar cells by the end of 2010.
In addition to altering the material for novel solar cell designs, the material can also be modified for use with a variety of printing equipment. Innovalight says a lower viscosity material has been developed for use with inkjet printing equipment.
The company has a development roadmap to ultimately bring conversion efficiencies of solar cells to over 20% using its platform for silicon ink and processing technologies. Innovalight already has over 60 patents filed for silicon ink and high efficiency solar cells using silicon ink processes.
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