International. A team of researchers has developed an inkjet printer technology to produce kesterite thin-film absorbers.
Based on inkjet printer absorbers, solar cells with total area conversion efficiency of up to 6.4% have been achieved. Although this is lower than the efficiency records for this class of material, inkjet printing minimizes waste and has huge advantages for industrial production.
Drip inkjet printing is a promising approach enabling significant reduction in raw material costs. In addition, inkjet printing can be easily adapted to a roll-to-roll process, which is suitable for large-scale production.
From an industrial application perspective, these two features of inkjet printing technology are of great interest. A critical requirement for the use of inkjet printing is to develop a suitable ink in terms of viscosity and stability that leads to compact and homogeneous films.
