Overview: The Game Is Changing
The fundamental nature of Natcore's technology also enables a wide range of commercial applications beyond the field of solar energy, and Natcore controls intellectual property with important potential applications in many industries outside the solar realm. Essentially, any product or process that utilizes thin films of silicon dioxide or mixed silicon oxides could benefit from our technology. A list of relevant industries includes:
Optics: Optical detectors and components; optoelectronics (passive and active devices); high-resolution optical detectors; artificial retina implants; waveguides, including waveguide cladding and other passive components for the all-optical internet (e.g., fiber-to-the home telecommunications systems); protective coatings for plastic lenses of all sorts, from prescription eyeglasses to over-the-counter sunglasses and reading glasses.
Green Technology and Energy: Air and water quality monitoring; fuel cell membranes; environmental remediation and supercapacitors
Medical: chemical sensors ; nanocloth lightweight cloth radiation shielding; biochemical sensors; microarrays for DNA sequencing; point of care "lab on a chip"; pharmaceutical applications (i.e., photodynamic therapy, anticoagulating agents, atherosclerosis/ arteriosclerosis diagnosis and treatment, cancer treatments, blood disorder diagnosis)
Electronics: Microwave absorbers; semiconductor devices' composite "smart materials;" supercapacitors; MEMs (micro electromechanical systems); internal oxide layers for silicon semiconductor devices (i.e., computer chips)
Science and Research: Photon sensors; chemical sensors; carbon nanotube (CNT)-sized dielectric objects; composite materials and structures
Hardware/Utility: Corrosion protection; cladding for both large- and small-scale metallic surfaces (e.g., metal liners for hot water heaters, copper traces to turn circuit boards into easily patterned optical waveguides); protective coatings for light emitting diodes (LEDs) that emit red, yellow and especially white light. (These devices will eventually replace the incandescent light bulb in automobiles and homes and represent a huge consumer market.) Also films to control the emissivity of windows and architectural glass surfaces. (Emissivity control affects the amount of light and heat that can move through a sheet of glass.)
Natcore expects that the potential applications for its LPD technology will continue to branch out as a result of further research and development. Intellectual property and licensing revenues will form a foundation of its business plan.
Natcore's product development focus after silicon solar cell coatings and devices will be on products utilizing silicon substrates in one form or another. At this time, the primary potential opportunities are envisioned in the following areas: