The Research group

Jabbour's group, print very flat,
thin cells, onto glass in a similar way. First they coat the glass with a
transparent electrically conducting material (metal ink) that acts as one of the
solar cell's electrodes. On top of this, they lay down a thin film of a polymer,
which helps to gather current from the photovoltaic material.
Finally they deposit a blend of two organic compounds that convert light into
electricity. One is a carbon-based molecule called a fullerene, it produces
charged particles that carry an electrical current when light shines onto the
molecules. The other is a polymer, it ferries the current to the electrodes on
the top and the bottom of the solar cell.
Under blue light, these screen-printed solar cells have an efficiency of 4.3 per
cent. And the Japanese cells are much greater than that! Many of the flexible
solar cell panels that you see today are screen printed.
Now lets take a look at what The Dupont Company is doing with there solar
cells. Dupont is involved in the development of solar cell metallisation since
the 1970's. Although all PV cell manufacturers use different processes to
make there solar cells, the metallisation of the rear and front sides is in many
cases DONE BY SCREEN PRINTING! Which has shown itself to be one
of the most economic way to produce solar cells.
Recently, Dupont achieved a real breakthrough in the formulation of front-side
contacts for silicon solar cells that has resulted in customers, such as
photowatt, to realize the screen printing efficiency by changing their antireflection
technology from titanium dioxide to silicon nitride. This came at
just the right time for the Photowatt solar cell company, Because they have
been using there own past material for the front side metallisation since it first
started manufacturing solar cells. The development of the metallisation from
Dupont for the back side, (p-side). These pasty inks are either silver pastes
containing Al, or pure Al pastes to secure a good ohmic contact with the pside
of the solar cell. We have told you all this to help you better understand
and leam the screen printing solar cell process and what others are doing.