Printed Electronics Gets More Ambitious

• Edible

• Biodegradable

• Printed on paper

• Printed directly onto objects

Fortunately there are many new alternatives. Nano-silicon is ink jet printed by Kovio and others and it promises many of the photovoltaic features that conventional crystalline and amorphous silicon can never achieve. It can be printed reel to reel on stainless steel or other high temperature substrates. However, most of the work on the next generation of photovoltaics is directed at printing onto low cost flexible polymer film and ultimately on common packaging materials. The main contenders are currently as compared in the table.