[nanoPost] Photovoltaic Solar Power Based on Low-cost Nanoparticle Technology

Company USA

The company manufacture low-cost photovoltaic solar products using proprietary non-vacuum, nanoparticle technologies. The company owns intellectual property for fabricating low-cost solar products in a manner that circumvents the expense and complexity of traditional solar manufacturing technologies.

The company has developed simple, low-cost alternatives to existing PV manufacturing methods. The company's core technology is a set of proprietary processes for preparing high-quality thin films using non-vacuum techniques based on nanoparticulate materials.

The company's techniques provide substantial cost advantages relative both to traditional PV products based on silicon wafers and to the capital-intensive vacuum deposition techniques typically used to deposit PV thin films.

The company's core technology asset is a set of patent-protected techniques for preparing thin films using advanced nanoparticle materials. The basic concept is simple: prepare nanopowders of mixed-metal precursor materials, deposit thin layers of nanoparticle materials using non-vacuum techniques like printing or spraying, and convert the layers into high-quality PV films via reactive sintering techniques.

Mixed-metal precursors are particularly advantageous for multi-component materials such as CIS and its alloys with gallium and sulfur since key components (e.g. Cu, In, Ga, etc.) can be pre-mixed in order to simplify composition control during large-area deposition. The techniques are simple and inexpensive, do not require expensive capital equipment, and are adaptable to less- sophisticated industrial settings. The techniques provide a low-capital-cost entry to manufacturing price-competitive PV products, and sharply increase return on investment.

The sunlight-to-electricity conversion efficiencies of The company's prototype products compare favorably to those of commercial products currently in the international PV marketplace. The company has demonstrated 12% solar cells and 7% multi-cell modules, and further improvements are anticipated as additional refinements are implemented.

Using its proprietary processes, The company projects PV module manufacturing cost reductions of at least 50% relative to competing PV technologies. The projected cost reductions of thin-film CIGS PV technologies relative to wafer-based PV technologies are concentrated in materials and labor costs, as The company eliminates the silicon wafers and cumbersome cell-to-cell wiring.

The projected cost reductions of The company's non-vacuum CIGS processes relative to others' vacuum-based CIGS processes are concentrated in capital equipment and direct materials costs, as non-vacuum equipment is much cheaper and more materials efficient than is typical vacuum equipment.

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