Co-extrusion printing for low cost and high performance energy devices

The method of co-extrusion of dissimilar materials has been developed at PARC, a Xerox Company, to successfully produce high aspect ratio structures for solar cell gridlines and battery electrode structures. In the solar application, the process is stable and repeatable, and a fully integrated tool has been developed that is now being demonstrated at a customer site. The co-extrusion process is capable of non-contact, direct deposition of features as small as 1 10 um with aspect ratios in the range of 1:1 to 30:1. Alternating fluids are co-extruded to form a fine vertically interdigitated lamina structure. The relative thickness, width, and length of the deposited features can be varied by altering the printhead geometry, fluid properties, and printing process conditions.

Citation

Cobb, C.; Shrader, E. Co-extrusion printing for low cost and high performance energy devices. TechConnect World; 2012 June 19; Santa Clara, CA USA.