Conductive Inks:

Cast your mind back a few years and you will find a conductive ink business that appeared very mature and slow moving. The boom years of the photovoltaic industry were ending, the dominant big suppliers seem well entrenched, and the technology was, at best, only incrementally improving, with new technologies such as nanoparticle inks failing to get traction. Then everything began to change.

Although its operating principle is really very simple, the first time you see a solar-powered​ Mendocino motor you can’t help being fascinated. It looks like it came out of a wizard’s den — hovering in mid-air and spinning on its own, apparently without any source of energy. The ​magnetically levitated electric motor, named after the Mendocino County in California, is powered by solar cells. It uses a rotor suspended on low-friction magnetic bearings.

Research is in progress at the University of Aalto in Finland on the development of a process for inkjet printing of text, photos or any illustrations as solar cells. The idea is not new, but these researchers are covering new ground which will allow the use of ordinary materials.

Scientists at EFPL have achieved a reproducibility never before attained for Perovskite solar cells, combined with an efficiency of 21.1% under normal usage conditions.

A project in France which aims to create 1000 km of roads surfaced with solar panels is arousing interest....of big public works companies. A tender has been launched. Previously Colas, a subsidiary of Bouygues, had announced the development of Wattway, a patented paving containing polycrystalline solar cells.

Here is an article proposal that I feel would fit nicely in the summer issue, or perhaps before summer, as a solar panel charger is best used during the summer. The design has been tested as a prototype in our boat last summer and is now rolled into a more permanent design that I will install, come spring.

Here is an article proposal that I feel would fit nicely in the summer issue, or perhaps before summer, as a solar panel charger is best used during the summer. The design has been tested as a prototype in our boat last summer and is now rolled into a more permanent design that I will install, come spring.