PETEC, Polysolar Collaborate on Wafer Thin Technology Project

CPI’s printable Electronics Centre (PETEC) is developing technology that removes the need for masses of wiring, instead allowing circuits to be printed onto a film no thicker than a sheet of paper. Polysolar, a Cambridge-based company, has established a research base in the North East to collaborate on the project.

Polysolar is also working in collaboration with UK glass company Pilkington and Belgian chemicals company Solvay on its plans to manufacture the transparent photovoltaic (PV) glazing. The aim is to develop technology that would allow PV technology to be inserted into normal household and office windows as an unobtrusive source of electricity generation.

At present normal glass has a tint which makes it 60 percent clear and Polysolar’s aim is to develop its product to the point where the glass is 50 percent clear, making little notable difference. Because the technology could be printed, it would also bring down the cost of PV for consumers.

“It is our first office outside Cambridge,” Jody Chatterjee, director of Polysolar, which was established four years ago, said. “We are looking to manufacture the technology at some point in time and are using the facilities at PETEC to help us achieve that.”

Chatterjee added that if the technology moved to the manufacturing stage it was possible that work could be carried out.