Photovoltaics & Batteries

IDTechEx has just launched a comprehensive report that gives a thorough analysis of printed and thin film photovoltaics and batteries - covering the technologies, markets and players.

Chemists and physicists are hard at work developing production processes for graphene - one day it may even be printable.

IDTechEx, along with other analysts, forecast the printed electronics market. While some agree others give widely different figures. After analyzing the industry for nine years, IDTechEx has just completed a new report covering the forecasts of the industry in great detail. Here Raghu Das, CEO, summarises the findings giving that crucial detail behind our forecasts.

US based company Konarka Technologies has published the performance of highly efficient inkjet printed organic bulk heterojunction solar cells.

A technology that could cost a few cents a yard to collect energy from the sun even after it has set and be imprinted on flexible materials is being developed by a team of researchers.

Energy harvesting is a hot topic in printed electronics, partly because of shortcomings of printed batteries.

Engineers at the University of Washington, US have for the first time used manufacturing techniques at microscopic scales to combine a flexible, biologically safe contact lens with an imprinted electronic circuit and lights.

Printed photovoltaics and batteries have reached a technological tipping point. With demand for power skyrocketing, IDTechEx find that the market for thin film photovoltaics beyond silicon will reach $1 billion in 2012 and $6 billion in 2014. Here Raghu Das, CEO, summarizes some of the findings of the new IDTechEx study - Printed and Thin film Photovoltaics and Batteries.

There is a much more balanced situation across the world when it comes to development and production of printed electronic and electric devices.

Now we have smart skin patches that heal wounds by restoring the natural electrical signals in the skin at the site of a wound thanks to BIOFiSICA.

Octillion Corp. (Symbol: OCTL), announced that a published research study has demonstrated, among other achievements, that the same silicon nanoparticles used in development of the Company's first-of-its-kind transparent glass window capable of generating electricity, are able to drastically increase the power performance of conventional silicon solar cells.

DSSC photoelectrochemical solar cells that mimic the action of chlorophyll in nature are already being commercialized. They are ten times as efficient as the version met in nature and they are more tolerant of reflected (polarized) light, light at narrow angles of incidence and low levels of light than most alternatives.

Overall, Europe may be losing the race for the huge new business of printed electronics and the rejuvenation of society that it will bring. This is despite having far more academic institutions than East Asia working on the subject, the number being comparable to the number in the USA.

The market for organic and printed electronics will rise from $1.18 billion in 2007 to over $300 billion in 20 years, becoming a huge business as the technology offers many different benefits. Here Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, reveals market forecasts and opportunities based on the new IDTechEx report Organic & Printed Electronics Forecasts, Players & Opportunities 2007-2027.

Amir Mashkoori, Kovio Chairman and CEO, will be the keynote speaker at the annual IDTechEx Printed Electronics USA 2007 conference and exhibition, being held November 13-14 2007 in San Francisco. This will be Kovio's first public presentation since the company's inception.

The indium price is volatile but the general trend is from $60 per kilogram three years ago to $1000 today. Most believe that $10,000 per kilogram will be reached in due course and that will make the material an expired resource for most practical purposes.

Imagine reading a book like the Da Vinci Code and being able to Google the name of one of the pieces of art or societies such as the Knights Templar by touching a word in the book.

Nowadays, the term printed electronics is taken to include truly printed electronics but also thin film electronics that is potentially printable. Anything less and you miss the big picture. Here we consider the barriers to commercialization for printed electronics.

An introduction to printed photovoltaics and batteries