Benjamin M. Wood

Digital Printing of Titanium Dioxide for Dye Sensitized Solar Cells

Silicon solar cell manufacturing is an expensive and high energy consuming process. In contrast, dye sensitized solar cell production is less environmentally damaging with lower processing temperatures presenting a viable and low cost alternative to conventional production. This paper further enhances these environmental credentials by evaluating the digital printing and therefore additive production route for these cells. This is achieved here by investigating the formation and performance of a metal oxide photoelectrode using nanoparticle sized titanium dioxide. An ink-jettable material was formulated, characterized and printed with a piezoelectric inkjet head to produce a 2.6 µm thick layer. The resultant printed layer was fabricated into a functioning cell with an active area of 0.25 cm2 and a power conversion efficiency of 3.5%. The binder-free formulation resulted in a reduced processing temperature of 250 °C, compatible with flexible polyamide substrates which are stable up to temperatures of 350 ˚C. The authors are continuing to develop this process route by investigating inkjet printing of other layers within dye sensitized solar cells.

Recycling of materials in automotive engineering

Abstract: Meeting the targets set out by the EU’s End of Life Vehicle (ELV) Directive is a challenge currently facing the automotive industry. In order to meet the requirements of this legislation, vehicles must be designed, manufactured and assembled giving consideration to their disposal. The reuse, recycling and recovery of ELV materials each have their own advantages and disadvantages, and are complicated by the wide range of metals, polymers and composites currently used in the manufacture of vehicles. Another option is the design of multifunctional components to reduce the number of end of life materials that need to be dealt with. Tools such as life cycle assessment (LCA) are available to evaluate the sustainability of a vehicle across the whole life cycle.

Multifunctionality in additive manufacturing

In this chapter, some basic theory of the processes and materials behind additive manufacture (AM) is introduced, followed by a look at how multifunctionality can be achieved with existing commercially available technologies, and finally what tomorrow’s AM machines will be able to achieve.