Progress in processing

Si Silicon substrate and processing technology and research has reached a level of perfection unmatched by any other material. Inherent material limitations are frequently overcome by continued optimisation and progress in processing technology. 

Haertle, T. and Chobert, J.-M. 1999. Recent progress in processing of dairy proteins a review. J. Food Biochem. 23, 367-407. 

Progress in process development for the synthesis of 2 recently was made by Behr and co-workers. Extraction of a palladium-phosphine catalyst by use of 1,2,4-butanetriol as extractant offers an effective separation from 2 and also an easy catalyst recycling [14]. Fitter et al. have shown that immobilization of homogeneous palladium catalysts on a polystyrene support is an alternative to the homogeneously catalyzed synthesis which enables easy catalyst recovery [15]. 

Simon, R, A., 2005, Progress in Processing and Performance of Porous-Matrix Oxide/Oxide Composites, ibid, 2[2], pp. 141-149. 

Further improvements in processing will come. If the progress in processing in the early 1990s and increased industrial attention are an indication, it appears that conductive polymers are headed for commercial success in the very near future. 

Several excellent reviews exist on polymer tandem solar cells and we refer to these publications for a comprehensive overview. In this chapter we focus on the materials requirements for creating efficient polymer solar cells and intermediate contact layers. In the following paragraphs, we will outline the operational principles in more detail. We will then review the most important photoactive materials used in polymer multi-junction cells and outline the material combinations that can used for the recombination layer. We conclude with an overview of recent achievements that have pushed the efficiency to well over 10% and address the progress in processing of large area tandem polymer solar cells. 

The availability of pure lanthanides for a moderate price (because of the progress in processing) enhances the interest of chemists for this family of chemicals. 

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