Mar 9 2009
NanoMarkets, a leading industry analyst firm based here, today announced the release of its newest report, "Organic Photovoltaic Materials Markets: 2009 - 2016". The report projects that sales of materials for both "pure" organic solar cells (OPV) and hybrid organic/inorganic dye-sensitized solar cells (DSC), are expected to reach almost $600 million ($US) by 2016. The report goes on to note that the willingness of materials firms to meet the small demands from organic PV manufacturers today stands a good chance of being rewarded with substantial orders today. Details about the report are available at www.nanomarkets.net.
The firm will also be holding a webinar to present findings from the report on Tuesday, March 17th at 10:00 EDT. See the NanoMarkets website for details.
Other Findings from the Report:
As there are no settled architectures or materials structures for organic PV there is considerable potential for materials firms of all sizes to set industry standards. According to NanoMarkets' new report, three areas of special opportunity are (1) more efficient organic absorber materials, (2) improved electrode materials, (3) new layers for OPV cells that enable these cells to leap to greater energy conversion efficiencies. With regard to new materials, the new NanoMarkets report discusses in depth the role of nanomaterials and new dye types for DSCs. It notes in the latter case that today's DSCs use ruthenium, one of the rarest metals on the planet.
New materials and architectures will similarly spell opportunities for equipment makers. Today, OPV/DSC cell manufacturers require production equipment that is good enough for prototype production. The next step will be to create production equipment that is optimized for production runs of working devices. NanoMarkets believes that OPV may eventually be helped from the development of large scale manufacturing of OLED lighting applications, which are likely to be very similar to those required for OPV and DSC fabrication, so there may be some synergistic opportunities in providing R2R production equipment for both applications.
About the Report:
Organic Photovoltaic Materials Markets: 2009 - 2016 analyzes and quantifies the markets for OPV/DSC materials of all kinds. Coverage includes the latest R&D and commercialization efforts in the area of the core absorber layers for pure OPV and DSC solar cells, as well as the materials used for electrodes, encapsulation and substrates. The report discusses the materials products and strategies of the key players and companies, including both firms that are specifically focused on OPV materials (e.g., Plextronics) and those that develop materials for their own solar panels (e.g., Konarka). The new NanoMarkets study also provides a roadmap for improvements in OPV lifetimes, materials prices, efficiencies and other factors, along with a detailed eight-year forecast of OPV/DSC materials in both volume and value terms.
This report focuses on developments at the materials level that are impacting the commercialization of OPV/DSC and will be invaluable to strategic planners and marketing managers at materials and solar panel firms of all kinds, as well as electronics companies and investors.