Press Release 2014

Nitto Denko Corporation introduces the development of an unprecedented wavelength conversion technology, "RAYCREA," for PV encapsulating sheets. RAYCREA sheets convert UV-light in sunlight into visible-light with very high efficiency, over 95%. Until now, UV-light has never been used for power generation. By simply replacing the current encapsulating sheets in a PV module with RAYCREA, the module power can be increased by about 2%. This brand new, world-class technology can be implemented to enhance the power of a module with no capital investment or re-inspection of other components, such as the back sheet.

Nitto will market this technology as not only a product by itself, but also as an additive for existing PV encapsulating sheets.

These days, PV modules and system have become widespread thanks to increased social concern with energy saving, CO2 reduction, and sustainable energy. The market for these products is currently supported by subsidiaries from governments. Thus, power enhancement of PV modules and reduction of costs are two major concerns. With these factors in mind, Nitto focused on utilizing UV light in sunlight, energy that is abandoned in current PV technology. Nitto succeeded in the commercialization of wavelength conversion technology which efficiently uses this energy over a number of years.

1. High UV Absorbance Due to equal or higher levels of UV absorbance than conventional encapsulation sheets with normal UV absorbers, it's possible to increase power output without sacrificing the performance of protection against UV degradation.

2. High fluorescence quantum yield The Fluorescence quantum yield for converting UV-light to visible-light is over 95%, so that most of photons from UV-light are utilized during wavelength conversion.

3. High durability During many accelerated tests on PV modules, no reduction in the efficiency of the product has been observed.

4. No undesirable incidental issues No capital investment or re-inspection of other components is required.

“RAYCREA” is combination of words “RAY” and “CREA,” or “creation” in Latin.

1. Product launch: Second half of FY2014 (under review)
2. Product form: PV encapsulating sheet, additive for PV encapsulating sheets
3. Sales target: 1.0 billion yen/year by FY2015, 10 billion yen/year by FY2018 The Nitto Denko Group is developing various technologies for launching new business enterprises in environmental and new energy fields.

The group aims to make contributions towards social issues such as environment conservation and energy saving.