Press Releases


1/4/2024 - NATCORE TECHNOLOGY CLOSES OVERSUBSCRIBED NON-BROKERED PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 04 January 2024 16:25

Natcore Technology Closes Oversubscribed

Non-Brokered Private Placement

Financing Raises $3,000,000

 

Red Bank, NJ — (January 4, 2024) —Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) announces today the completion of a C$3.0 million private placement. The funds will be used to accelerate the company’s research and development activities, particularly in the area of super-efficient tandem solar cells, and for general working capital.

The financing, which was announced on December 14. 2010, and was expected to total C$2.0 million, was substantially oversubscribed. As a result, Natcore received gross proceeds of C$3,024,425, pursuant to the issuance of 4,032,566 units at a price of C$0.75 per unit. The overallotment has received regulatory approval, including the sanction of the TSX Venture Exchange.

Each unit comprised one common share and one-half warrant, with each full warrant enabling purchase of a further common share at C$1.00 for a period of three years from closing. In the event that Natcore shares close at over C$1.75 for 20 consecutive trading days, the warrants will be subject to accelerated conversion within 30 days’ notice of the company disseminating a press release providing notice of that circumstance.

“We see this oversubscription as a vote of confidence from the investment community,” says Natcore President and CEO Chuck Provini. “The funds will be put to good use. We’re actively engaged in selecting the most advantageous location for our own laboratory facilities, and this funding will allow us to rapidly accelerate our tandem solar cell research program.”

The first tranche of the placement, representing the sale of 2,469,333 units, was completed on December 22, 2010. All securities issued pursuant to the first tranche of the placement are subject to a hold period expiring on April 23, 2010. The balance of the placement, representing 1,563,233 units, was completed today. All securities issued pursuant to the second tranche of the placement are subject to a hold period expiring on May 5, 2011.

 
12/15/2010 - NATCORE TECHNOLOGY PLANS $2 MILLION NON-BROKERED PRIVATE PLACEMENT
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 04 January 2024 16:19

Natcore Technology Plans $2 Million

Non-Brokered Private Placement

 

Red Bank, NJ — (December 14, 2024) —Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) has arranged a C$2 million private placement in order to accelerate the company’s research and development activities.

The non-brokered deal involves up the sale of up to 2,666,667 units at a price of C$0.75 per unit for aggregate gross proceeds of C$2,000,000. Each unit comprises one common share and one-half warrant, with each full warrant enabling purchase of a further common share at C$1.00 for a period of three years from closing. In the event that Natcore shares close at over C$1.75 for 20 consecutive trading days, the warrants will be subject to accelerated conversion within 30 days’ notice of the company disseminating a press release providing notice of same.

“We’ve been conducting R&D; work at Rice University and the Ohio State University,” says Natcore President and CEO Chuck Provini. “This capital infusion will allow us to build our own lab and to move much more quickly toward building a super-efficient tandem solar cell using our liquid phase deposition process.” A location for the new facility has not yet been finalized, although suitable facilities have been identified.

Finder's fees may be payable on all or portion of the financing. Proceeds of the placement will be applied to further development of Natcore’s technologies and general working capital. The completion of the placement is subject to regulatory approval including the approval of the TSX Venture Exchange.

 
12/6/2024 - NATCORE FORMS STRATEGIC ALLIANCES TO BUILD SOLAR CELL PRODUCTION FACILITIES
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 04 January 2024 15:50

Natcore Forms Strategic Alliances to

Build Solar Cell Production Facilities

 

Red Bank, NJ — (December 6, 2024) —Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) has formed three strategic alliances to accelerate the company’s response to requests for solar cell manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and abroad.

Natcore has been asked by private and governmental entities from New Mexico, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines, and Brazil to use its liquid phase deposition (LPD) technology in the construction of low-cost, environmentally friendly factories that would make silicon solar cells and assemble them into panels.

Since Natcore is primarily a maker of solar cell production equipment and supplies rather than the actual solar cells, and because they are focused on development of a super-efficient tandem solar cell, they are teaming with three subcontractors in order to offer their customers a facility that is fully built, equipped, and staffed. Memoranda of Understanding with Jacob White Construction, Spire Corporation, and Helium Resources were signed last week.

Jacob White Construction is a commercial 
construction company headquartered in Houston. They would work with Natcore to build the facilities and would provide consulting services during project design, build-out, and startup phases. Their projects have included the Johnson Space Center, the Houston Air Traffic Control Facility, and Texas Children’s Hospital. They have shown particular proficiency in green building technology.

Spire Corporation is a global solar company providing turnkey production lines and capital equipment to manufacture photovoltaic modules and cells. Headquartered in Bedford, MA, they have designed and built a fully automated production line for solar modules. For Natcore, they would outfit new facilities and train the personnel who work in them.

Helium Resources, of Plano, TX, has industry concentrations in energy and construction and would recruit qualified candidates to staff the facilities. In the case of the proposed New Mexico project, for example, where approximately 2,500 sustainable jobs would be created for a 250-megawatt plant, Helium Resources would work with existing resources such as the New Mexico Workforce Commission and Wounded Warrior Project as well as pioneering new programs to attract top talent.

“Our goal is to make solar power cost competitive with conventional power,” says Chuck Provini, Natcore’s president and CEO. “We feel our technology can do that by revolutionizing the way that solar cells are made. We are replacing the old chemical vapor deposition (CVD) method with our LPD wet chemistry process.

“These alliances will also help us reach our goal,” he continues. “They give us instant expertise in plant design, construction, automation, and staffing. Spire’s automation experience in particular, combined with recent advances in our exclusive technology, will help us to produce efficient solar cells at potentially the lowest cost in the world.”

CVD requires a high-temperature vacuum furnace to grow an anti-reflective coating on a silicon substrate; highly toxic and flammable silane; silicon discs of sufficient thickness to withstand the high-temperature firing; and dangerous chemicals. LPD, on the other hand, grows the AR coating in a chemical bath at ambient temperatures; eradicates the need for silane; dramatically reduces energy requirements; and significantly lowers silicon usage.

Moreover, the LPD method can utilize the waste materials from the initial production of the silicon wafers or from the production of semiconductors, thereby allowing LPD facilities to lower their cost of goods. And the effluents from the LPD process can be recycled or can be mixed with lime and sold to cement manufacturers for use in their production process.

“Dealing with the toxic waste issue will become a major hurdle as the solar cell industry matures and expands.” Says Natcore Chairman Brien Lundin. “With our wet chemistry process, Natcore is on the leading edge of solving this problem.”
Last Updated ( Tuesday, 04 January 2024 16:18 )
 
11/11/2024 - NATCORE LEAPS FORWARD IN QUEST FOR HIGH-EFFICIENCY TANDEM SOLAR CELL
Written by Administrator   
Thursday, 11 November 2024 00:00

Natcore Leaps Forward in Quest For

High-Efficiency Tandem Solar Cell

Scientists Create Three-Dimensional Matrix

of Silicon Quantum Dots

 

Red Bank, NJ — (November 11, 2024) — The research program of Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) being conducted by Natcore scientists working at Rice University under the direction of Prof. Andrew Barron has successfully formed a multilayered array of silicon quantum dots embedded in a silicon dioxide matrix.

 

Grown using the liquid phase deposition (LPD) process developed at Rice and exclusively licensed to Natcore, the array is comprised of silicon quantum dots with diameters of less than three nanometers. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

The ability to create a three dimensional matrix of quantum dots is a critical step toward the formation of a fully functioning tandem cell. This accomplishment assures that Natcore will have the ability to control independently both the wavelength region and the extent of the optical absorption in tandem cells as they are deposited on a standard silicon solar cell. Independent control of these two factors gives Natcore complete flexibility to optimize the performance of the second junction in the case of a two-cell tandem device, or the additional two junctions in the case of a three-cell tandem device.

This situation is in stark contrast to the production of three-junction tandem solar cells for space application in which the device performance is deliberately compromised because of the lack of independent control over these two factors during cell fabrication. Tandem solar cells are a proven technology in space applications. The major issue preventing their broad use in earth-based applications has been the need to use exotic semiconducting materials for the upper layers, and the expensive special vacuum processing technology that limits large-scale production. In contrast, Natcore’s LPD technology eliminates the need for such materials and their costly processing.

 

When added to the top of a standard silicon solar cell, stacked arrays could significantly increase the efficiency of the silicon solar cell at a much lower cost per additional watt than that of the original cell itself because they could more efficiently absorb shorter wavelength light (i.e., higher-energy photons) than is possible in ordinary bulk silicon. Theoretical calculations by independent research groups show that efficiency of over 30% for tandem solar cells in terrestrial sunlight is possible.

 

Chuck Provini, Natcore’s president and CEO, notes “Efficiency of greater than 30% would represent approximately double the power output of today’s commercial silicon solar cells, and would likely bridge the economic gap between solar and conventional power generation.”

 

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Statements herein other than purely historical factual information, including statements relating to revenues or profits, or Natcore’s future plans and objectives, or expected sales, cash flows, and capital expenditures constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in Natcore’s business, including risks inherent in the technology history. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except in accordance with applicable securities laws, Natcore expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein.

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

 
11/9/2024 - NATCORE CONFIRMS SOLAR POWER OUTPUT GAIN USING NEW PASSIVATION PROCESS
Written by Administrator   
Tuesday, 09 November 2024 00:00

Natcore Confirms Solar Power Output Gain

Using New Passivation Process

Film Passivation Process Also
Removes Reliance on Costly Vacuum Furnace

Red Bank, NJ — (November 9, 2024) — Scientists at Natcore Technology Inc. (TSX-V: NXT; NTCXF.PK) have been able to demonstrate the effectiveness of the company’s method to passivate the surface of standard commercial silicon solar cells on which a silica film has been grown using Natcore’s liquid phase deposition (LPD) process.

 

Passivation is the process of filling the dangling atomic bonds at the surface of the solar cell, as well as reducing the numbers of defects that always exist in the upper region of the cell body. It is critical to enabling production of long-term, high-performance silicon solar cells.

 

Following an advance announcement on September 15, Natcore’s R&D; team at the Ohio State University now report that measurements of the effect of the Natcore surface passivation process on an important parameter called surface recombination velocity, or SRV, show that the SRV has been improved a factor of more than 25 times compared to its value for an untreated cell. This result translates shows that Natcore’s LPD passivation process achieves the same level of performance as the current industry standard technique. Importantly, it will be less costly to use in full-scale production compared to the hydrogenated silicon nitride passivation process now used in every silicon solar cell manufacturing line in the world.

 

In Natcore’s refined LPD process, this necessary passivation is achieved using the same production steps normally applied to the solar cell to create its top and bottom metal contacts; no additional heating cycles are required. The synergistic nature of Natcore’s technology with existing cell fabrication steps will greatly simplify the standard silicon solar cell manufacturing process.

 

Very importantly, recent developments in silicon solar cell manufacturing R&D; have shown that significant gains in cell performance can be achieved with ever-thinner silicon wafers by passivating the rear surface of the cell with a layer of silica underneath the full-coverage aluminum back contact. This step has not yet been included in actual manufacturing because it presently requires the deposition of the silica film by thermal vacuum processes that are too cumbersome and costly to implement. Natcore’s new technology eliminates the need for that vacuum furnace, however, thereby lowering cost and environmental harm.

Natcore’s patent-pending process can be implemented in a cost-effective manner as a simple add-on to equipment that already exists on the production floor. In the near future, Natcore will pursue discussions with existing suppliers of such equipment both at home and abroad to develop beta test sites in selected cell manufacturing facilities prior to full scale introduction of the technology to the global market.

 

“This is a significant advance in the performance of standard solar cells, and we’re thrilled by it,” says Natcore President and CEO Chuck Provini. “Nevertheless, we continue to maintain our focus on our joint venture in China, our thin-film applications and, particularly, the development of our tandem solar cell. An all-silicon tandem solar cell would bring the greatest gains in solar cell efficiency to date. It remains our ultimate goal, and our scientists working at Rice University continue to make important progress toward achieving it.”

 

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Statements in this press release other than purely historical factual information, including statements relating to revenues or profits, or Natcore’s future plans and objectives, or expected sales, cash flows, and capital expenditures constitute forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on numerous assumptions and are subject to all of the risks and uncertainties inherent in Natcore’s business, including risks inherent in the technology history. There can be no assurance that such forward-looking statements will prove to be accurate, as actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. Accordingly, readers should not place undue reliance on such statements. Except in accordance with applicable securities laws, Natcore expressly disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements or forward-looking statements that are incorporated by reference herein.

 

Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or accuracy of this release.

Last Updated ( Tuesday, 18 January 2024 18:17 )
 
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