Innovalight hopes to simplify the manufacturing of crystalline silicon solar cells with its inkjet printing technology.
Innovalight hopes to simplify the production of solar cells.
By printing with silicon ink, the number of production steps can be cut in half, which lowers costs, the Sunnyvale company claims. In June, the private firm installed a pilot system at its headquarters that it said was capable of printing more than 2,000 solar cells an hour.
The system, developed with Netherlands-based OTB Solar, produces crystalline silicon calls with a thickness of 50 microns.
On Monday, Innovalight made a second substantive claim: that its ink-based cells demonstrated 18 percent efficiency at converting light into energy.
The results were certified by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems in Germany, the company claims in a press release.
The goal is to bring its ink efficiency to over 20 percent, said Innovalight, which is working with several solar cell manufacturers.
Crystalline solar cells still account for 86 percent of the commercial market, despite the onslaught of low-cost thin film products.
Posted by Mark Boslet 
