Sofab Inks has been awarded a Phase I Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grant worth US$300,165 from the National Science Foundation. The award will fund development of liquid-processable tin oxide (SnO2) nanoparticle inks as an electron transport layer (ETL) for fullerene-free perovskite solar cells, designed to be affordable and compatible with industrial coating methods.
The project will focus on how ink formulation, thin-film properties, and processing conditions affect electron transport layer quality, with testing to evaluate film uniformity, electronic performance, device stability, and scalable deposition methods. The goal is to reduce manufacturing costs for perovskite modules and cut reliance on imported materials in the solar supply chain - building on the SnO2-based ETL work Sofab Inks has already been advancing commercially. Several prominent labs, including the Washington Clean Energy Test Beds and the National Lab of the Rockies, are listed as collaborators on the project.
The grant caps off an active year for the company. In July, Sofab Inks closed a $6 million seed round to scale its fullerene-free perovskite materials for automotive, space, and IoT markets, and this month it reported that its Tinfab modules outperformed fullerene-based controls in new damp-heat stability and fracture energy testing. The NSF award adds federal backing to that momentum, targeting the same fullerene-free, SnO2-based approach at the heart of the company's commercial roadmap.
