The energy demand in the world is expected to exceed 740 million TJ by 2040 and our dependence on fossil fuels needs to be switched to sustainable and renewable energy sources like solar energy. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) is one of the best approaches to extracting solar energy. There are more than 200 BIPV products in the market currently but when it comes to integrating these products into the technical aspects such as buildings’ structural integrity, thermal, daylight retainment and aesthetic prospects to be considered. The share of BIPV integration potential of different building types in the world of residential, agricultural, industrial, commercial and other buildings account for 66%, 4.8%, 8.1%, 19.9%, and 1.2% accordingly. Many solar technologies developed to achieve architectural requirements, but the main problem is the trade-off between efficiency and aesthetic appeal, which is less than 10% in coloured and transparent solar modules. This paper discusses the different applications of solar photovoltaics (PV) in building architecture, technical requirements, and different module technologies. The article provides a comprehensive guide for researchers and designers working on the development of BIPV integrations.

Citations

• A Review on Energy Yield Enhancement Characteristics of Bifacial Photovoltaic Systems Combined with Solar Tracking
  Hyeong Gi Park
  Journal of Electrical and Electronic Materials.2026; 39(4): 309.     CrossRef

Soft robots are promising devices for applications in drug delivery, sensing, and manufacturing. Traditional hard robotics are manufactured with rigid materials and their degrees of motion are constrained by the orientation of the joints. In contrast to rigid counterpart, soft robotics, employing soft and stretchable materials that easily deforms in shape, can realize complex motions (i.e., locomotion, swimming, and grappling) with a simple structure, and easily adapt to dynamic environment. Among them, the magnetic actuators exhibit unique characteristics such as rapid and accurate motion control, biocompatibility, and facile remote controllability, which make them promising candidates for the next-generation soft robots. Especially, the magnetic actuators instantly response to the stimuli, and show no-hysteresis during the recovery process, essential for continuous motion control. Here, we present the state-of-the-art fabrication process of magnetically controllable nano-/micro-composites, magnetically aligning process of the composites, and 1-dimensional/multi-dimensional multimodal motion control for the next-generation soft actuators.

There is growing interest in power inductors in which metal soft magnetic powder and epoxy resin are combined. In this field, the process technology for increasing the packing density of magnetic particles in an injection molding process is very important. However, little research has been reported in this regard. In order to improve the packing density, we investigated and compared the sedimentation heights of pastes for three types of soft magnetic alloy powders as a function of the mixing ratios and the type of resin used. Experimental results showed that the packing density was the highest (71.74%) when the mixing ratio was 80：16：4 (Sendust：Fe-Si：CIP) according to the particle size using an SE-4125 resin. In addition, the packing density was found to be inversely related to the layer separation distance. As a result, it was confirmed that the dispersion of solid particles in the paste was important for curing; however, the duration of the curing process can greatly affect the packing density of the final composite.

A soft baking process was used to enhance the electrical characteristics of solution-processed indium-zincoxide (IZO) thin-film transistors (TFTs). We demonstrate a stable soft baking process using a hot plate in air to maintain the electrical stability and improve the electrical performance of IZO TFTs. These oxide transistors exhibited good electrical performance; a field-effect mobility of 7.9 cm²/Vs, threshold voltage of 1.4 V, sub-threshold slope of 0.5 V/dec, and a current on/off ratio of 2.9×10⁷ were measured. To investigate the static response of our solutionprocessed IZO TFTs, simple resistor load type inverters were fabricated by connecting a resistor (5 or 10 MΩ). Our IZO TFTs, which were manufactured using the soft baking process at a baking temperature of 120℃, performed well at the operating voltage, and are therefore a good candidate for use in advanced logic circuits and transparent display backplanes.

Recently, there has been much focus on the controlled alignment and patterning process of nanowires for nanoelectronic devices. A simple and effective method for patterning of highly aligned nanowires using a microcontact printing technique is demonstrated. In this method, nanowires are first directionally aligned by contact printing, following which line and space micropatterns of nanowire arrays are accomplished by microcontact printing with a micro patterned NOA mold.

Efficiency of crystalline Si solar cell can be maximized as minimizing optical loss through antireflection texturing with inverted pyramids. Even if cost-competitive, soft lithography can be employed instead of photolithography for the purpose, some limitations still remain to apply the soft lithography directly to as-received solar grade wafer with a bunch of micro trenches on surface. Therefore, it is needed to develop a low-cost, effective planarization process and evaluate its output to be applicable to patterning process with PDMS stamp. In this study new surface planarization process is proposed and the change of micro scale trenches on the surface as a function of etching time is observed. Also, the effect of trenches on pattern quality by soft lithography is investigated using FEM structural analysis. In conclusion it is clear that the geometry and shape of trenches would be basic considerations for soft lithography application to low quality wafer.

We design, develope and test a parallel active polymer pen lithography (PPL) device, which consists of individually addressable elastomeric probe tips. The PPL array chip is fabricated using soft lithography method with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) material. Individual probe can be pneumatically actuated via a computer controlled interface. We demonstrate parallel writing with 16 individually addressed pens, with each pen producing a different pattern in the same run. The largest proof-of-concept array fabricated is 4×4 with a spacing of 250 μm in both x and y axes.