Development of World’s First Conductive Silver Ink to form Electronic Circuits by UV Light
TANAKA Kinzoku has announced the development of a special silver ink which can be hardened without heating by applying only Ultraviolet (UV) light to be used for electronic circuits. The new discovery will enable the electronic wiring possible at room-temperature since no heating is required. Hence, by using the newly developed silver ink it is possible to perform wiring not only on glass base material and substrates, but also on flexible base materials such as polyvinyl chloride film (PVC film) as well as polyester film (PET film), which up to now was difficult due to their susceptibility to heat. Read more
Development of Novel Synthesis Process for creation of Alternative Materials to Precious Metals
Group of Japanese Scientists from NIMS has come up with novel synthesis process for manufacturing nanosized reduced titanium oxide, paving the way for development of artificial photosynthesis and alternative materials to precious metals, first in the world. The synthesized titanium oxide material interior is transformed to a reduced type oxide with different crystal structure while retaining the original nanostructure of TiO2. Read more
Sharp makes the Eco House Concept a Reality by Introducing the Intellignet Power Conditioner System
High cost and lack of efficiency are the two major factors hampering the commercialization of future Eco Houses, from the PV base electricity generated by solar cells to storage batteries as well as DC appliances, forcing the researchers and equipment manufacturers of these type of equipment to look into all available avenues from material science to new process manufacturing in order to achieve a cost efficient alternative to fossil fuel generated electricity. Read more
Development of a New High Efficiency Single Crystalline Solar Cells by Sharp
Sharp has made an announcement on development of a new single crystalline solar cell with high conversion efficiency. The new solar cell uses a Back Contact structure, where the electrodes are connected on the back-side, helping to eliminate any needs for electrode to be set on the front side. The new structure increases the light receiving area on the front side surface. Read more
Development of a Conductive Film for Bonding Tab ribbon for Solar Cells by Hitachi Chemical
Hitachi Chemical announced the development of “CF Series”, a conductive film for bonding tab ribbon when connecting crystalline silicon solar cell in a series formation. In addition to this the new conductive film can be applied to thin film as well as organic compound PV modules. Development of the new conductive thin film was in a direct response to find an alternative material to solder in the case of a thin film. Currently, solder is used for connecting a tab ribbon to a bus bar; however soldering requires a high temperature which imposes stress on the cell, resulting in a bend or even a crack. Read more
Dainippon Screen Makes its entry into Green Market through introduction of Compact wet Station
Dainippon Screen made an announcement on development of CW-1500, a compact wet station, a batch type automatic cleaning system designed to fulfill the needs of eco-friendly products market, known as “green devices” market sector. The new development was part of FRONTIER project with aim of expanding its line of manufacturing systems for wafer 200 mm and smaller with high variety, low volume production, a must requirement in the green device manufacturing systems, such as LED, solar cells, secondary cells as well as power devices. Read more
Development of a Method for High Purity Separation of SWCNT by AIST
Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) come in two main forms,one being the single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT) and the other is the multi-walled nanotubes (MWCNT). The structure of a SWCNT is a one-atom-thick layer of graphite which is called graphene, wrapped into a seamless cylinder with open or closed ends. Depending on the arrangement of the carbon atoms, SWCNT exhibits metallic or semiconducting properties. Normally, the synthesis of SWCNTs yields a mixture of these two types. However, if the these two types can be separated in high purity, they can be utilized in many potential applications. For instance, metallic SWCNTs can be used as transparent electrodes in production of liquid crystal displays or solar cells instead of the transparent conductive materials which is prepared using rare metals, also the metallic SWCNTs can be used in wiring ,in development of high-integration high-speed SWCNT computers. On the other hand semiconducting SWCNT can be employed as transparent and flexible transistors. Read more
Development of Large Capacity High Voltage Lithium-ion Battery System by SANYO
Sanyo made an announcement on launch of two large lithium-ion battery system models. The new battery system (DCB-101) is designed to be easily integrated into the existing systems as part of hybrid schemes using solar cells to store electricity generated by wind power or for electrical output stabilization where as, the new (EVB-101) for Electric Motors can be used to power light electric vehicles that are in the R&D or small scale mass production stages. Read more
Development of Solar Cells with World’s highest Energy Conversion efficiency by SANYO
Looks like Sanyo is all alone in this field by breaking its own record in developing the world’s highest energy conversion efficiency of 23% for crystalline silicon type solar cells for a practical size of 100 cm2 or more. The solar cell is of HIT (Heterojunction with Intrinsic Thin layer) type composed of thin crystalline silicon wafer sandwiched by ultra-thin amorphous silicon layer. HIT structure offers a reduction of recombination loss of the electrical element (charged carrier) by surrounding the energy generating layer of single thin crystalline silicon (c-Si) with high quality ultra thin amorphous silicon (a-Si) layers. Read more
Development of highly flexible new conductive material by Fujifilm
ITO or otherwise known as “Indium tin oxide” is mainly used to form the transparent conducting coatings for wide array of applications such as Liquid Crystal Display (LCD), flat panel display, plasma display, touch panels, electronic ink, organic light-emitting diodes, solar cells, etc. But due to high cost and limited supply of indium, the fragility and lack of flexibility of ITO plus the costly layer deposition requiring vacuum manufacturers of such products are looking for alternatives. Based on this, Fujifilm made an announcement on a newly developed conductive material to replace ITO for transparent electrodes in above applications according to Fujifilm. Read more
