I-Corps: Printable Photovoltaics

该项目将专注于基于无机纳米晶体墨水的薄膜、轻质和机械柔性光伏器件的制造。人们已经做出了巨大的努力来开发用于这些应用的有机材料，但有机材料仍然存在效率低和稳定性差的问题，特别是在阳光下。无机油墨为这些问题提供了解决方案，但它们的发展还不够广泛。无机纳米晶油墨的主要优点是可以沉积经过验证的无机半导体薄膜，具有高器件效率和长时间稳定性能的潜力。这种新材料系统可能会对太阳能电池行业产生影响，与现在使用的标准高温真空工艺相比，可以显著降低制造成本。便携式和集成太阳能电池的技术解决方案即使有，也很少，也没有可以无缝包裹的光伏设备。这项技术有可能创造一种新的低成本太阳能电池技术，可以应用于各种基材，包括塑料和织物。提供一种可以集成到其他产品中的低成本光伏设备在航空航天和汽车工业以及军事目的中都有应用。

This project will focus on inorganic nanocrystal ink-based manufacturing of thin film, light-weight and mechanically flexible photovoltaic devices. There has been tremendous effort focused on developing organic materials for these applications, but organics still suffer from low efficiencies and very poor stability, especially under sunlight. Inorganic inks offer a solution to these problems, but their development has not been nearly as extensive. The key advantage of inorganic nanocrystal inks is that thin films of proven inorganic semiconductors can be deposited with the potential for high device efficiency and stable performance of long time periods. This new materials system could impact the solar cell industry, enabling significant reduction in manufacturing cost compared to standard high temperature vacuum processes that are used now. There are few, if any, technology solutions for portable and integrated solar cells nor are there photovoltaic devices that can be wrapped in a seamless way. This technology has the potential to create a new low-cost solar cell technology that can be employed on various substrates, including plastics and fabrics. Providing a low-cost photovoltaic device that could be integrated into other products has applications in the aerospace and automotive industries as well as for military purposes.