I have written a number of columns about Ink World The following are some examples of how to get started: Coatings WorldThe EU’s green aspirations are always in the spotlight. It would be great if solar energy could contribute even more to the EU’s goals.
The use of solar inks isn’t new, but the recent advances have made it possible to achieve more with printable cells. The article will focus on what has been achieved in this field.
Solar Ink
The solar ink, a type of conductive pigment ink, is capable of printing solar cells on a variety of substrates including plastic, paper and fabric. This greater flexibility in solar ink can offer obvious benefits to both consumers and contractors.
Technology allows for the manufacture of flexible, thin solar panels. They are more energy efficient than fixed panels and less fragile.
By the middle of the century, the industry will also be in a situation where it is unable to produce traditional solar panels at the level required for the 21st Century.
In Europe, recent advances have seen the development of solar cell that is both printable and rollable. They have been produced in special laboratory conditions, where oxygen and water are not present. This results in cells with an efficiency comparable to conventional solar cells.
Printing the cells onto plastic film would solve this particular problem. Researchers at University of Swansea developed a method for printing perovskite on film using carbon ink and slot-die coating (a process used to produce photographic films).
One of the requirements for this been the development of perovskite and semiconductor layers that have thicknesses of 50 – 500 nm within the cell. Researchers have developed a method that does not use highly toxic chemicals in the production of solar cells.
Solar cells generate free electrons when light strikes them. This layer is crucial in the conversion of energy. It prevents re-absorption. Carbon ink then extracts the charge.
Slot-die coating produces a final printed product consisting of flexible, rollable solar cells. It is therefore possible to print larger areas of solar panels. There is still much to be done in this area, including increasing the efficiency of perovskite structure and finding ways to enhance their durability, whether through lamination or protective-coating techniques.
In general, solar ink is an option that’s already showing to be environmentally friendly. It can be produced at lower temperatures which reduces the energy consumed. It is also a valuable technique as the demand for renewables continues to increase, which translates into more opportunities for the green economy and industry.
Recent Statistics on European Sales
The European Printing Ink Association, or EuPIA, has recently released its 2022 annual statistics on the printing ink industry of the European continent. The overall trends show that the volume of inks continues to decline while their value is increasing. Statistic are based 26 member companies, which represent 90% of all sales.
Inks for publication include web offset (coldset or heatset), sheetfed offset, and publishing gravure. Packaging inks include flexographic, special gravure, radcure and overprint inks.
The sales of publication inks fell to just under 250,000 tons in 2022. Packaging inks were down by 4%, or 530,000 tons. Upon examining the specifics at national levels, some important indicators and points emerge.
• Of the big five economies in the west, Italy boasted the strongest annual growth in ink sales at 13.6%, increasing the value of inks to its economy to more than €400 million. Spain placed second with ink sales rising by 10.7% in 2022 to total more than €200 million. The UK and France increased sales by 8.5% and 6.9% respectively to both reach about €260 million. Germany remains the pre-eminent industry and market with sales in excess of €575 million and growing by 7.4%. Italy has the highest value ink industry after Germany.
• From the mid-sized and smaller economies, some of the best performers were the Netherlands, Czech Republic, Sweden, Croatia and Portugal, although none of these have ink sales in excess of €100 million and most have sales fewer than €50 million.
• In Eastern Europe disruption for some brought opportunity for others. Ukrainian ink sales fell by nearly 44% to around €13-14 million while those in neighbouring Belarus rose by 115% to about €12 million. Russian ink sales were seen to fare badly last year, collapsing by 35% to around €110 million. Meanwhile in the regionally prominent Turkish economy, turnover from inks grew by more than 24% to over €275 million. Inks are now Europe’s third largest industry, after Germany and Italy.