NREL is a national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy 

Efficiency & Renewable Energy, operated by the Alliance for Sustainable Energy, LLC.

Contract No. DE-AC36-08GO28308

Metallic Inks for Solar Cells

Cooperative Research and Development 

Final Report

CRADA Number: CRD-10-370

NREL Technical Contact: Maikel van Hest

CRADA Report

NREL/TP-7A10-57796

April 2013
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Cooperative Research and Development Final Report

In accordance with Requirements set forth in Article XI.A(3) of the CRADA document, this document is 

the final CRADA report, including a list of Subject Inventions, to be forwarded to the Office of Science 

and Technical Information as part of the commitment to the public to demonstrate results of federally 

funded research.

CRADA Number: CRD-10-370

CRADA Title: Metallic Inks for Solar Cells

Parties to the Agreement: Applied Nanotech, Inc.

Joint Work Statement Funding Table showing DOE commitment: 

Estimated Costs NREL Shared Resources

Year 1 $ 00.00

Year 2 $ 00.00

Year 3 $ 00.00

TOTALS $ 00.00

Abstract of CRADA work: 

This document describes the statement of work for National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) as a 

subcontractor for Applied Nanotech, Inc. (ANI) for the Phase II SBIR contract with the Department of 

Energy to build silicon solar cells using non-contact printed, nanoparticle-based metallic inks. The 

conductive inks are based upon ANI’s proprietary method for nanoparticle dispersion. The primary inks 

under development are aluminum for silicon solar cell back plane contacts and copper for top 

interdigitated contacts.

The current direction of silicon solar cell technology is to use thinner silicon wafers. The reduction in 

wafer thickness reduces overall material usage and can increase efficiency. These thin silicon wafers are 

often very brittle and normal methods used for conductive feed line application, such as screen-printing, 

are detrimental. The Phase II program will be focused on materials development for metallic inks that 

can be applied to a silicon solar cell using non-contact methods. Uniform BSF (Back Surface Field) 

formation will be obtained by optimizing ink formulation and curing conditions to improve cell efficiency.

Summary of Research Results: 

The research has resulted in the optimization of ink for Aluminum back contacts. These inks have been 

tested using various contact configuration patterns. Tests were performed on various silicon solar cell 

materials. The metallization deposited using inks showed cell efficiencies similar to cells with screen 

printed contacts.
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Subject Inventions Listing: N/A

Report Date: 2/15/13 Responsible Technical Contact at Alliance/NREL: Maikel van Hest

This document contains NO confidential, protectable, or proprietary information.