May 27 2009
NanoMarkets, a leading industry analyst, today announced the release of "Silver Markets for Photovoltaics." This report is one of a series of "Metals in PV" reports examining opportunities for various metals in the photovoltaics industry. This report contains an analysis and market projections of silver inks, pastes and other related materials based on NanoMarkets' ongoing research on materials used in photovoltaics (PV). Further details about the report are available at www.nanomarkets.net.
Key Findings:
PV is the fastest growing application for silver; NanoMarkets' research suggests that the volume of silver used for photovoltaics will reach over 24 million troy ounces in 2016.
The market dynamics of the silver and PV market are changing. As thin-film and organic PV begin to take a larger share of the overall PV market the use of silver will shift from that of a simple coating used to fabricate the top electrodes in crystalline silicon PV to that of a key determinant in boosting efficiencies and materials performance. NanoMarkets believes that thin-film PV and organic PV both will account for 27 percent of silver used by PV in 2016.
NanoMarkets also believes that silver reflective coatings could prove of immense importance in getting organic PV (OPV) to performance levels that would make its satisfactory for its biggest area of opportunity; building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV).
While PV silver will continue to be dominated by simple silver pastes, the need for higher performance will create demand for pastes manufactured from nanomaterials which have higher degrees of conductivity than regular pastes.
Another new opportunity can be found in transparent composite materials in which indium tin oxide (ITO) or conductive polymers are mixed with silver to create new materials for high performance top electrodes. These composites are being tried out first in OPV, but NanoMarkets believes that they will have applications throughout the industry.