Sofab Inks executives Blake Martin and Jack Manzella are developing specialized inks they believe can improve the performance of next-generation, energy-efficient solar cells.
Solar panels are typically made of tempered glass and crystalline solar cells, which Martin and Manzella say are approaching their theoretical efficiency limits. Traditional solar panels use crystalline silicon to absorb sunlight, converting its energy into electricity.
One drawback of traditional silicon-based solar cells is their inability to absorb every wavelength of sunlight. Some light passes through the material without being absorbed, while excess energy from the light is lost as heat.
Sofab, a Louisville-based chemical manufacturing startup, specializes in producing materials for perovskite solar cells. Perovskites are a class of materials used to manufacture thin-film solar cells that can be engineered to absorb different portions of the solar spectrum. Their thin form allows the cells to be placed on unconventional surfaces, such as windows, making them more versatile than traditional panels.
Martin and Manzella joined Middle Tech’s Logan Jones on the Mission Critical podcast to discuss the origins of Sofab Inks and the technology behind its products.
TinFab, a tin oxide nanoparticle ink, is the company’s flagship product, designed to improve solar cell durability and facilitate the movement of electrons. Sofab wants to replace C60, a carbon-based material commonly used in perovskite solar cells, with its tin oxide nanoparticle ink.
“They come with more durability. We're comparable on efficiency. It's easier to manufacture, and it's lower cost than what our customers are using,” Martin said.
Martin, then a graduate student at the University of Louisville, helped develop the specialized nanoparticle ink with classmates Peter Armstrong and Sashil Chapagain to improve the performance of perovskite solar cells. The trio was working out of the university’s Conn Center for Renewable Energy Research.
In 2021, they spun off the technology from the university to establish Sofab Inks. The company later received $200,000 through the U.S. Department of Energy’s American-Made Perovskite Startup Prize, which provided early funding to help commercialize its technology. Manzella joined the team in 2023.
Sofab is a specialized materials supplier, not a perovskite solar cell manufacturer. This allows the company to participate in the broader perovskite industry without competing directly with its customers.
Financial analysts expect the global perovskite solar market to grow significantly over the next decade as the technology becomes more widely adopted. The market, valued at approximately $101 million in 2025, is projected to reach $3.2 billion by 2034, according to market research firm Fortune Business Insights.
Martin believes the versatility of perovskite solar cells could open the door to new applications, including space exploration, because the lightweight, flexible material can be applied to surfaces that cannot easily accommodate traditional silicon-based solar panels.
“We got off a call a few weeks ago with a company that said they want to use perovskite to power data centers in space,” Manzella said. “I'm a big space nerd, big sci-fi nerd, and I just couldn't believe what I was hearing. It was so cool, so it really just kind of unlocks all these other markets as well.”
Martin and Manzella want to establish Sofab as a leading materials supplier for perovskite solar manufacturers. If they achieve that goal, they hope to expand their products beyond the solar sector into other applications, including printed electronics, carbon dioxide reduction catalysts, sensors, corrosion-resistant coatings and energy-efficient windows.
“Maybe in five years we’re developing more of a material platform where we have a diversified array of nanoparticle semic semiconductor materials that we sell to a variety of different end-use customers, and that's how we grow the business,” Martin said.
