After struggling this year, NanoMarkets estimates that the thin-film photovoltaics industry will recover in 2010, creating opportunities for materials firms of all kinds. NanoMarkets' new report, "Materials Markets for Inorganic Thin-Film Photovoltaics: 2010 to 2017" provides a complete analysis of the commercial opportunities for materials used in thin-film PV. The coverage comprises the absorber layer, electrode, substrate, encapsulation, and other materials used for CIGS, CdTe, and thin-film silicon PV.
CIGS and CdTe have always been sensitive to the atmosphere, especially when used in flexible cells. However, NanoMarkets reports that “new kinds of encapsulation materials are now opening up the market for CIGS and CdTe in flexible BIPV applications”. The biggest news here has been the announcements during 2009 of suitable polymer/ceramic dyad films from Dow Chemical, FujiFilm, DuPont and 3M. By 2017, “sales of TFPV encapsulation materials are expected to reach $1.6 billion,” forecasts NanoMarkets.
The TFPV industry is also rapidly moving away from the use of ITO as a transparent conductor. The big beneficiaries in this move will be Zinc Oxide and Tin Oxide, the use of which is expected to bring major cost savings for the industry. By 2017, Nanomarkets concludes, almost 90% of the transparent conductor material used by the TFPV industry is expected to be Zinc Oxide or Tin Oxide.
Finally, sputtering is in decline for TFPV manufacturing, primarily because of the material wastage, while printing is on the increase. Nonetheless, the true unsung hero of TFPV manufacturing is electrodeposition, which is rapidly growing and proving itself worthy of widespread use. By 2017, TFPV absorber materials that are either printed or electrodeposited will amount to almost $300 million.
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