Dr. Dennis Flood, the Chief Technology Officer and a cofounder of Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK), was chosen to give an opening address of the 6th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion in Kyoto, Japan.
Dr. Flood was also chosen to introduce the winner of the World Prize, which is given every four years.
The Conference brings together the three major photovoltaic communities (Europe, United States, Japan/Asia) every four years. Dr. Flood organized and chaired the first WCPEC in 1994 while he was Chief of the Photovoltaic and Space Environments Branch at NASA.
Following the conference, Dr. Flood was the opening plenary speaker at a special two-day workshop in Myazaki, Japan, the third in a series of such biennial events. It was attended by a select group of scientists from universities in Japan and Korea. At this workshop, characterized by Dr. Flood as a "very high-powered event," he presented Natcore's work on black silicon and quantum dot solar cells.
While in Japan, Dr. Flood also met with a Sharp Electronics team that is responsible for the development of heterojunction with intrinsic thin layer (HIT) solar cells. These are super high efficiency devices that could result in an efficiency of 25%. After exchanging non-disclosure agreements, Sharp agreed to send HIT cells to Natcore, which will then put all-back contacts on them using Natcore's proprietary laser technology. In addition to further increasing cell efficiency, the Natcore all-back-contact technique will lower production cost by eliminating diffusion furnaces.
"The presentations at the World Conference, and my conversations with attending solar manufacturers, confirm that Natcore is in a leading position with regard to the next paradigm shift in solar cell manufacturing," says Dr. Flood. "There are two reasons. First is our work on black silicon antireflection control on n-type wafers, and second is our work on laser-processed, integrated back contacts (IBC) on n-type wafers."
"Our presence at this event with other industry leaders gave us further exposure to a large and influential audience," says Chuck Provini, Natcore President and CEO. "It will certainly pay off for Natcore as we begin to market our technology around the world."
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