Mar. 10, 2008 – A report from NanoMarkets suggests that printing as a manufacturing strategy will make a big difference in helping push thin-film photovoltaics in areas that are inaccessible to traditional PV due to physical characteristics constraints like flexibility and weight.
Printed photovoltaics offer advantages in terms of flexibility, lightness, and ability to function in artificial light, the report notes. Solar battery chargers and billboard power sources are two examples of applications where thin-film photovoltaics could be used to improve durability and portability. Using printing as a manufacturing strategy could help reach price points and lead to new products, and push the printed PV sector to $2.5B by around 2015.
The key to thin-film and organic PV technologies is in leveraging low-cost materials, the firm notes, and one way to do that is by pursuing printing, for all types of PV (silicon, CIS/CIGS, CdTe, organic, and hybrid organic/inorganic [dye cell]), including components like transparent conductors.
More details about the for-pay report can be found here.