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Results for “Printed photovoltaics”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 37 records · Page 2
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2023

Moldable photovoltaic solar cell module

A moldable photovoltaic module is provided. The module includes a flexible polymeric flex-circuit substrate having an electrically conductive printed wiring pattern and solder pads defined on it. Small photovoltaic cells are affixed to the flex-circuit substrate by back-surface contacts in electrical contact with the solder pads. At least one thermoformable polymeric film is joined to the flex-circuit substrate. Each said solder pad comprises a solder composition that, after an initial melt, has a melting point that lies above at least a portion of the temperature range for thermoforming the polymeric film.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
DOE OSTI2020

Mixed-flow design for microfluidic printing of two-component polymer semiconductor systems

The rational creation of two-component conjugated polymer systems with high levels of phase purity in each component is challenging but crucial for realizing printed soft-matter electronics. Here, we report a mixed-flow microfluidic printing (MFMP) approach for two-component π -polymer systems that significantly elevates phase purity in bulk-heterojunction solar cells and thin-film transistors. MFMP integrates laminar and extensional flows using a specially microstructured shear blade, designed with fluid flow simulation tools to tune the flow patterns and induce shear, stretch, and pushout effects. This optimizes polymer conformation and semiconducting blend order as assessed by atomic force microscopy (AFM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), grazing incidence wide-angle X-ray scattering (GIWAXS), resonant soft X-ray scattering (R-SoXS), photovoltaic response, and field effect mobility. For printed all-polymer (poly[(5,6-difluoro-2-octyl-2H-benzotriazole-4,7-diyl)-2,5-thiophenediyl[4,8-bis[5-(2-hexyldecyl)-2-thienyl]benzo[1,2-b:4,5-b′]dithiophene-2,6-diyl]-2,5-thiophenediyl]) [J51]:(poly{[N,N′-bis(2-octyldodecyl)naphthalene-1,4,5,8-bis(dicarboximide)-2,6-diyl]-alt-5,5′-(2,2′-bithiophene)}) [N2200]) solar cells, this approach enhances short-circuit currents and fill factors, with power conversion efficiency increasing from 5.20% for conventional blade coating to 7.80% for MFMP. Moreover, the performance of mixed polymer ambipolar [poly(3-hexylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (P3HT):N2200] and semiconducting:insulating polymer unipolar (N2200:polystyrene) transistors is similarly enhanced, underscoring versatility for two-component π -polymer systems. Mixed-flow designs offer modalities for achieving high-performance organic optoelectronics via innovative printing methodologies.

42 ENGINEERING↗
DOE OSTI2022

Microdroplet Electrospray Localized Laser Printing and Sintering of Nanoparticles for Passivating, Carrier-Selective Contacts (Final Technical Report)

In this project, the team used a nanoparticle electrospray laser deposition (NELD) process developed at the University of Central Florida (UCF) to address current limitations of passivating, carrier-selective contact technologies for crystalline silicon (c-Si) photovoltaic (PV) cells. The NELD process was used to print low bulk line resistivity Ag contacts directly onto transparent conductive oxides (TCOs), like indium tin oxide (ITO), for hydrogenated amorphous silicon (a-Si:H) based c-Si heterojunction (SHJ) cells without any subsequent contact firing step needed.

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗
NASA NTRS2013

Light emitting, photovoltaic or other electronic apparatus and system

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus, such as a lighting device comprised of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or a power generating apparatus comprising photovoltaic diodes, which may be created through a printing process, using a semiconductor or other substrate particle ink or suspension and using a lens particle ink or suspension. An exemplary apparatus comprises a base; at least one first conductor; a plurality of diodes coupled to the at least one first conductor; at least one second conductor coupled to the plurality of diodes; and a plurality of lenses suspended in a polymer deposited or attached over the diodes. The lenses and the suspending polymer have different indices of refraction. In some embodiments, the lenses and diodes are substantially spherical, and have a ratio of mean diameters or lengths between about 10:1 and 2:1. The diodes may be LEDs or photovoltaic diodes, and in some embodiments, have a junction formed at least partially as a hemispherical shell or cap.

Ray, William Johnstone↗
NASA NTRS2016

Light Emitting, Photovoltaic or Other Electronic Apparatus and System

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus, such as a lighting device comprised of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or a power generating apparatus comprising photovoltaic diodes, which may be created through a printing process, using a semiconductor or other substrate particle ink or suspension and using a lens particle ink or suspension. An exemplary apparatus comprises a base; at least one first conductor; a plurality of diodes coupled to the at least one first conductor; at least one second conductor coupled to the plurality of diodes; and a plurality of lenses suspended in a polymer deposited or attached over the diodes. The lenses and the suspending polymer have different indices of refraction. In some embodiments, the lenses and diodes are substantially spherical, and have a ratio of mean diameters or lengths between about 10:1 and 2:1. The diodes may be LEDs or photovoltaic diodes, and in some embodiments, have a junction formed at least partially as a hemispherical shell or cap.

Ray, William Johnstone↗
NASA NTRS2018

Light Emitting, Photovoltaic or Other Electronic Apparatus and System

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus, such as a lighting device comprised of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or a power generating apparatus comprising photovoltaic diodes, which may be created through a printing process, using a semiconductor or other substrate particle ink or suspension and using a lens particle ink or suspension. An exemplary apparatus comprises a base; at least one first conductor; a plurality of diodes coupled to the at least one first conductor; at least one second conductor coupled to the plurality of diodes; and a plurality of lenses suspended in a polymer deposited or attached over the diodes. The lenses and the suspending polymer have different indices of refraction. In some embodiments, the lenses and diodes are substantially spherical, and have a ratio of mean diameters or lengths between about 10:1 and 2:1. The diodes may be LEDs or photovoltaic diodes, and in some embodiments, have a junction formed at least partially as a hemispherical shell or cap.

Ray, William Johnstone↗
NASA NTRS2013

Light emitting, photovoltaic or other electronic apparatus and system

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus, such as a lighting device comprised of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or a power generating apparatus comprising photovoltaic diodes, which may be created through a printing process, using a semiconductor or other substrate particle ink or suspension and using a lens particle ink or suspension. An exemplary apparatus comprises a base; at least one first conductor; a plurality of substantially spherical or optically resonant diodes coupled to the at least one first conductor; at least one second conductor coupled to the plurality of diodes; and a plurality of substantially spherical lenses suspended in a polymer attached or deposited over the diodes. The lenses and the suspending polymer have different indices of refraction. In some embodiments, the lenses and diodes have a ratio of mean diameters or lengths between about 10:1 and 2:1. The diodes may be LEDs or photovoltaic diodes, and in some embodiments, have a junction formed at least partially as a hemispherical shell or cap.

Ray, William Johnstone↗
NASA NTRS2016

Light Emitting, Photovoltaic or Other Electronic Apparatus and System

The present invention provides an electronic apparatus, such as a lighting device comprised of light emitting diodes (LEDs) or a power generating apparatus comprising photovoltaic diodes, which may be created through a printing process, using a semiconductor or other substrate particle ink or suspension and using a lens particle ink or suspension. An exemplary apparatus comprises a base; at least one first conductor; a plurality of substantially spherical or optically resonant diodes coupled to the at least one first conductor; at least one second conductor coupled to the plurality of diodes; and a plurality of substantially spherical lenses suspended in a polymer attached or deposited over the diodes. The lenses and the suspending polymer have different indices of refraction. In some embodiments, the lenses and diodes have a ratio of mean diameters or lengths between about 10:1 and 2:1. The diodes may be LEDs or photovoltaic diodes, and in some embodiments, have a junction formed at least partially as a hemispherical shell or cap.

Ray, William Johnstone↗
DOE OSTI2021

Large-Scale Synthesis of Semiconducting Cu(In,Ga)Se2 Nanoparticles for Screen Printing Application

During the last few decades, the interest over chalcopyrite and related photovoltaics has been growing due the outstanding structural and electrical properties of the thin-film Cu(In,Ga)Se2 photoabsorber. More recently, thin film deposition through solution processing has gained increasing attention from the industry, due to the potential low-cost and high-throughput production. To this end, the elimination of the selenization procedure in the synthesis of Cu(In,Ga)Se2 nanoparticles with following dispersion into ink formulations for printing/coating deposition processes are of high relevance. However, most of the reported syntheses procedures give access to tetragonal chalcopyrite Cu(In,Ga)Se2 nanoparticles, whereas methods to obtain other structures are scarce. Herein, we report a large-scale synthesis of high-quality Cu(In,Ga)Se2 nanoparticles with wurtzite hexagonal structure, with sizes of 10–70 nm, wide absorption in visible to near-infrared regions, and [Cu]/[In + Ga] ≈ 0.8 and [Ga]/[Ga + In] ≈ 0.3 metal ratios. The inclusion of the synthesized NPs into a water-based ink formulation for screen printing deposition results in thin films with homogenous thickness of ≈4.5 µm, paving the way towards environmentally friendly roll-to-roll production of photovoltaic systems.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2026

Framework for Modeling 3D-Printed Concrete Construction to Assess Energy Efficiency and Backup Power Trade-Offs in a Mixed-Use, New Construction Neighborhood Development

This paper presents a framework that expands the URBANopt(TM) modeling platform to include 3D-printed concrete wall assemblies and assess energy efficiency and backup power trade-offs in new housing developments. Applied to a planned mixed-use neighborhood in Oil City, Pennsylvania, the workflow integrates building energy and distributed energy resource (DER) modeling to evaluate envelope and equipment upgrades alongside DER operations. Results show that advanced 3D-printed envelopes combined with efficient systems and onsite photovoltaics (PV) and storage reduce energy use intensity and sustain critical loads during outages. The framework supports planning for emerging construction technologies by quantifying key trade-offs between energy efficiency and backup power performance.

24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗
DOE OSTI2022

Screen-Printed Contacts for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells: An Overview

Over the years, the photovoltaic market, worldwide, has been witnessing a double-digit growth rate. The silicon solar cell manufacturing technology has evolved to utilize raw materials optimally to address this growth. One of the ways in which manufacturers are addressing the challenge is by increasing the cell size and making thinner wafers. With this change in parameters, understanding the metal contact formation in solar cells becomes paramount to improve their efficiency. Screen printing is a widely used method to form metal contacts on solar cells and is ideally suited for large-volume manufacturing. This paper presents a review of the (a) role of screen printing in various solar cell architectures and (b) existing models for current conduction and contact formation mechanisms. An alternate approach to current conduction and contact formation mechanism in silicon solar cells is proposed.

contacts↗
DOE OSTI2024

Investigation of Local Parameters of PERC Solar Cells Metallized with Screen Printed Cu-Paste

For 40 TW of PV required to transition our planet to 100% renewables, the silver (Ag) should disappear from PV production. Advantages of copper (Cu) over silver (Ag) include: 1) bulk Cu has a similar conductivity to Ag (1.7 one millionth O-cm for Cu, 1.6 one millionth O-cm for Ag, and 2) Cu is -100 times cheaper than Ag, making it an excellent potential replacement. Problems associated with copper contacts include: 1) easy oxidation, and 2) diffusion into the Si cell and recombination activity. To summarize: 1) Rs map shows some regions with very high Rs, indicating no contact in those areas; 2) the histogram shows the peak Rs -5 ohm.cm2, which explains the high FF loss due to Rs; and 3) DLIT indicates non-uniformity in J01 and J02.

copper↗
DOE OSTI2020

Performance analysis of hybrid power configurations: Impact on primary energy intensity, carbon dioxide emissions, and life cycle costs

In this work, utilization of Natural gas and Hydrogen to support current and future building energy needs to offset the total electric demand while improving the grid resiliency and energy efficiency was investigated. Demand side energy management will play an important role in efficiently managing the available energy resources. Performance assessment of different power generation and energy management configurations is presented in this paper. Development of solutions in addressing grid resiliency by providing the ability to design suitable configurations for meeting individual building energy needs is discussed. Primary movers (PM) such as internal combustion engines (ICE) and fuel cells (FC) along with small scale auxiliary renewable energy source such as photovoltaics (PV) were considered. Key attributes of total carbon foot-print, life cycle costs including capital and operational expenditure, electric grid offset or peak shaving capability, thermal energy availability and its further potential to offset total electric demand, and primary energy intensity are analyzed and discussed in detail.

08 HYDROGEN↗
DOE OSTI2022

Surfactant Engineering and Its Role in Determining the Performance of Nanoparticulate Organic Photovoltaic Devices

The fabrication of organic photovoltaics (OPVs) from non-hazardous nanoparticulate (NP) inks offers considerable promise for the development of ecofriendly large-scale printed solar modules. However, the typical NP core-shell morphology (driven by the different donor/acceptor affinities for the surfactant used in NP synthesis) currently hinders the photovoltaic performance. As such, surfactant engineering offers an elegant approach to synthesizing a more optimal intermixed NP morphology and hence an improved photovoltaic performance. In this work, the morphology of conventional sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) and 2-(3-thienyl) ethyloxybutylsulfonate (TEBS)-stabilized poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) donor:phenyl-C 61 -butyric acid methyl ester (PC 61 BM) acceptor NPs is probed using scanning transmission X-ray microscopy, UV-vis spectroscopy, grazing-incidence X-ray diffraction, and scanning electron microscopy. While the SDS-stabilized NPs exhibit a size-independent core-shell morphology, this work reveals that TEBS-stabilized NPs deliver an intermixed morphology, the extent of which depends on the particle size. Consequently, by optimizing the TEBS-stabilized NP size and distribution, NP-OPV devices with a power conversion efficiency that is ~50% higher on average than that of the corresponding SDS-based NP-OPV devices are produced.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2019

Optical systems fabricated by printing-based assembly

Provided are optical devices and systems fabricated, at least in part, via printing-based assembly and integration of device components. In specific embodiments the present invention provides light emitting systems, light collecting systems, light sensing systems and photovoltaic systems comprising printable semiconductor elements, including large area, high performance macroelectronic devices. Optical systems of the present invention comprise semiconductor elements assembled, organized and/or integrated with other device components via printing techniques that exhibit performance characteristics and functionality comparable to single crystalline semiconductor based devices fabricated using conventional high temperature processing methods. Optical systems of the present invention have device geometries and configurations, such as form factors, component densities, and component positions, accessed by printing that provide a range of useful device functionalities. Optical systems of the present invention include devices and device arrays exhibiting a range of useful physical and mechanical properties including flexibility, shapeability, conformability and stretchablity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2022

Optical systems fabricated by printing-based assembly

Provided are optical devices and systems fabricated, at least in part, via printing-based assembly and integration of device components. In specific embodiments the present invention provides light emitting systems, light collecting systems, light sensing systems and photovoltaic systems comprising printable semiconductor elements, including large area, high performance macroelectronic devices. Optical systems of the present invention comprise semiconductor elements assembled, organized and/or integrated with other device components via printing techniques that exhibit performance characteristics and functionality comparable to single crystalline semiconductor based devices fabricated using conventional high temperature processing methods. Optical systems of the present invention have device geometries and configurations, such as form factors, component densities, and component positions, accessed by printing that provide a range of useful device functionalities. Optical systems of the present invention include devices and device arrays exhibiting a range of useful physical and mechanical properties including flexibility, shapeability, conformability and stretchablity.

Rogers, John↗