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The Future of Chemistry
Printed Electronics
Industrial inkjet printing is increasingly considered for advanced manufacturing processes for the deposition of functional fluids across a broad range of industrial applications including Printed Electronics. As inkjet innovators we are focused on developing closely with partners for these applications. A number of industries are commercializing products which have taken advantage of this unique digital process and readily solderable solid copper, silver and nano tube circuitry technology.
Batteries
Due to the limited availablity of fossil fuels and the development of electric cars, there has been a dramitic increase in demand for the next generation of high power energy sources. Current battery technology is bulky and heavy. Recently with the huge strides forward in carbon nano tubes and other state of the art technologeis there is great progress on the design of thin, light weight batteries. One focus area is the use of inkjet technology to print these thin, flexible power torage devices of the future.
Flexible Circuits
The fastest growing segment of Printed Flexible Circuits is using Digital copper inkjet inks on flexible films.
PCB Photomasks
Most inkjet ink products for PCB applications fall into one of two general categories:- 1) Hot-melt or Phase-change inks, comprised mostly of a wax-like material or,
- 2) UV-curable liquid type inks, with or without some volatile solvent.
Photovoltaic/Solar
Inkjet printing can play a roll in most layers of a solar cells. Digitally printing the semiconductor material, and the electrodes onto a solar cell substrate is current state of the art. Both organic and inorganic solar cells can be produced utilizing industrial inkjet printing. Inkjet printed inorganic solar cells are mainly CIGS solar cells. The organic solar cells are polymer based technology. For inorganic cells, generally the inkjet ink is composed of a metal salt mixture(CIGS).For organic technology the ink is a polymer fullerene blend. These materials are what creates the electric power from sunlight. In most cases additional layers of other materials are deposited. Important factors for the efficiency of inkjet printed organic solar cells are the inkjet latency time, the inkjet printing table temperature, and the effect of the chemical properties of the polymer donor.
