Printed Intelligence: Sensor, RFID, e-paper and Photovoltaic

Cheap, sensitive sensors could detect explosives, toxins in water

A sensitive new Stanford-developed disposable chip detects low concentrations of the explosive trinitrotoluene (TNT) and a close chemical cousin of the dreaded toxic nerve agent sarin in water samples. The research appears online this week in the journal ACS Nano.

A nanotube is a rolled-up sheet of carbon atoms that is only one atom thick. Every atom is therefore on the tube's surface. This makes single-walled nanotubes very sensitive to nearby molecules that would drift by in a water sample.

The chip itself is made of an inexpensive, flexible plastic substrate, rather than the more expensive, rigid silicon that underlies most computer chips. The researchers also use a thin polymer gate electrical insulator layer, which allows the device to operate on less than 1 volt of electricity.

Polymer memory products manufactured in roll-to-roll printing process

PolyIC and Thin Film Electronics ASA have jointly manufactured fully functional re-writable polymer memory products in a high-volume roll-to-roll printing process.

The high yield printing process gives leading production performance, and the resulting memory product meets low voltage requirements for consumer products, such as in the toys and games industry.

"PolyIC has developed and built up a roll-to-roll production process for printed electronics, and has successfully demonstrated its first printed RFID tags. Thinfilm's memory technology is complementary to our own technology, and by using our process and production technology, we have been able to successfully manufacture stand-alone Thinfilm memory products that satisfy our current customer requirements," commented Wolfgang Mildner, Managing Director at PolyIC.
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E-paper display market reaches $1.17 billion in 2014

IDTechEx find that the total market size for e-paper displays in 2010 is $131 million rising to $1.17 billion in 2014. This is the value of the display component, not the product. To date, e-paper display technologies have been used in more than $1 billion worth of products. Much of the growth is driven by e-readers following the huge success of Amazon's Kindle. However, much more is to come. IDTechEx find that in 2020 the market value will reach $7.45 billion thanks to the availability of flexible, color displays and faster refresh rates.

Tata group invests in a start-up producing photovoltaic solar modules

Tata group has invested in Flisom (Flexible and lightweight solar modules), a Switzerland-based company, to mark its interest in the solar photovoltaic industry and focus on developing the next generation of clean energy as a future growth area.

The plant will use superior technology and develop high quality flexible solar cells which in turn will produce electricity at ultra-low cost. These high performance and low-cost solar cells will create a significant impact on clean and sustainable solar electricity generation.

The global market for PV has grown at about 30% annually for over 10 years. The cumulative solar energy production still accounts for less than 0.1% of the global energy demand. PV growth is set to accelerate in the coming years as it becomes cost-competitive with the retail price of electricity in many parts of the world.

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Printed intelligence: e-packaging and growth opportunities

Novel Applications for Print Technologies Provide High Growth Opportunities

Printed RFID, OLED displays and printed photovoltaics offer the greatest long-term opportunity for print equipment manufacturers, raw material suppliers and printers, according to a new study by Pira International.

The study finds that photovoltaics will offer potential for web-fed print experts to coat, print and finish large volumes to very high specifications. Huge volumes of low-cost, reasonably efficient solar panels will be widely used. Printers could be contract manufacturers in emerging countries with no power utility grid. There will be tremendous opportunities to develop and market the fluids and inks.

The study concludes that the pace of technological change will make the market very different from today, with print products commonly incorporating electronics or biomedical functions along with text and images. Print will be much broader than now, there will be major opportunities for printers and suppliers of printing equipment and consumables, but not in the usual places.

Brand enhancement by electronics in packaging

Electronic packaging, "e-packaging" addresses the need for brands to reconnect with the customer or face oblivion from copying. That even applies to retailer own brands.

IDTechEx has published Brand Enhancement by Electronics in Packaging 2010-2020. This report concerns the market for electronic smart packaging devices, increasingly known as "e-packaging". Global demand for these devices will grow rapidly from a mere $0.09 billion in 2010 to $7.7 billion in 2020. Most of this will involve consumer packaged goods (CPG) and particularly their brand enhancement.

At that time, only around 1% of the global expenditure on packaging will involve e-packaging devices but growth in applications and usage will rocket thereafter and, in the meantime, the prospect of a multibillion market in only a few years is quite enough to attract considerable investment by putative suppliers.

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