Natcore's President's Message
Our team is very involved in a variety of projects, and sometimes we are so close to the day-to-day work that our enthusiasm blinds us to the fact that our shareholders are not as informed as we would like. So I would like to bring everyone up to date on some of the good things happening at Natcore.
First off, we have prepared another set of black silicon wafers for evaluation by the major Chinese equipment and cell manufacturer with whom we have been working. This company’s technical team will continue testing and optimizing the results, and everyone involved is confident that they will be able to significantly improve the efficiency of our black silicon cells.
The test result that intrigued the Chinese the most was the “lifetime” measurement generated by our cells. When sun light strikes a solar cell, charge carriers known as electrons and holes are generated. These charges can generate electricity from the cell, but they can also recombine before they have a chance to contribute to useful cell output. Lifetime is the measurement of the time it takes for this undesirable recombination to occur — the longer the better — and is measured in microseconds. Impressively, Natcore’s black silicon cells had a 40% longer lifetime than the Chinese company’s commercial cells. This typically translates into greater efficiencies.
Additionally, we have engaged the Fraunhofer Institute to augment and compliment this work in China. The Fraunhofer Institute is a world-renowned research facility with significant experience in solar research, and specifically with black silicon. The Fraunhofer project will also study Atomic Layer Deposition (ALD) and other passivation approaches on our black silicon. The optimization of passivation also typically leads to better efficiency. To further these efforts, we have sent another set of black silicon wafers to a second Chinese manufacturer at their request. This company has a proprietary passivation process that has the potential to also increase the efficiency of our cells.
In summary, all the parties involved are anxious and enthusiastic to work with us on this project since the results have shown that our black silicon process can be integrated comfortably into an actual cell manufacturing facility. This is a unique and remarkable development, as no one has previously been able to get black silicon solar cells out of the laboratory and into the factory. Remember, the benefit of this particular black silicon application is its ability to reduce manufacturing costs of solar cells by approximately 20% — a game-changing achievement. In this application, the efficiency of the cell is not nearly as critical as the cost reduction.
Elsewhere, Dr. David Carlson, the former Chief Scientist of BP Solar and a valued member of Natcore’s Advisory Board, introduced us to a process that is needed in the industry and very complementary to Natcore’s technology. The process uses a laser to put contacts on the back side of the wafers. This not only increases the output of the cell, but also eliminates another high-temperature step in the manufacturing process, thereby lowering production costs even more. This is consistent with the Natcore approach to a completely low-temperature manufacturing line with minimal toxic waste. We have introduced this laser capability to our Rochester lab, and are also collaborating with Prof. Mool Gupta’s group at the University of Virginia to make quick progress on this project. Currently we are fabricating working laser-produced cells at both locations.
We continue to work with Professor Andy Barron and Rice University through a joint research agreement to develop our tandem solar cell application. We have successfully coated both silicon and germanium quantum dots with our liquid phase deposition silica process, and the quantum dot layers have shown photoactivity. This is an important step in the tandem solar cell process since coating of quantum dots in close alignment is a critical step that most have not been able to accomplish. We will be complementing this work in our Rochester lab shortly.
Finally, I’m pleased to say that Natcore has received much notoriety over the past few years, both in mainstream media and trade journals, and this has generated significant interest from equipment and cell manufacturers around the world. As we have reported, a number of parties have expressed interest in obtaining some rights to our technology in exchange for joint venture relationships.
We are leveraging this situation to create a “best of breed” consulting service that will allow us to advise companies or countries interested in building cell and module manufacturing facilities or solar power plants. We will be paid not by the equipment manufacturers, but by the company or country that engages us. Thus, we will have no bias as far as from whom the equipment is purchased; our only goal will be to source the best cells, modules and/or power facilities using existing technologies. In terms of compensation, we anticipate receiving both a retainer as well as a profit margin on the equipment and building cost for each client.
In addition to our consulting services, Natcore would also provide clients with access to Natcore’s technologies as they come on-line. In essence, this model would allow us to be paid to create customers. As previously announced, we have recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Denzo Pty Ltd. for such a service, and are negotiating with additional entities in South Africa, Croatia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and Dubai.
Although I have briefly touched on a number of different projects that we are currently involved in, I would like to assure you that our focus is still the same — the quickest path to revenue from our core technologies. In this regard, we believe we are making real progress, and look forward to announcing some significant developments soon.
Regards,
Charles R. Provini
President & CEO
Natcore Technology, Inc.
87 Maple Avenue, Red Bank, NJ 07701
732-576-8800, fax 732-576-8809
Email: provini@natcoresolar.com
www.natcoresolar.com
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