Dyesol, Printed Power (Singapore) Entering a New Market

Printed batteries and sensor networks are to be integrated with energy generating dye solar cell technology in products being developed by Printed Power Pte Ltd in a new venture with Dyesol Limited.

Tapping into the multi-million dollar wireless remote sensor market and emerging printed battery market for near term combined energy generation and storage (CEGS) devices is driving the vision to develop a low-light indoor DSC-powered product.

“This is a really exciting time for Dyesol as we will be leveraging exciting advances in solid state (dry) DSC research to access a new commercial opportunity,” said Dyesol director Gordon Thompson. “The IP that we jointly develop within Printed Power will also be available to Dyesol to help progress our projects to the mass-market commercialization stage.”

Dyesol is entering this new market opportunity by acquiring an equity stake through a strategic investment in Printed Power Pte Ltd, a spinoff company out of Nanyang Technological University (NTU). Printed Power is initially focussing on the integration of dye solar cell (DSC) technology with printed storage and power management systems to create fully integrated CEGS devices.

The aim is to be at the forefront of fully printed and self-sustaining CEGS solutions globally. CEGS devices have a range of applications including sensor networks and smart building applications, thereby opening up a wide range of commercial opportunities.

Printed Power has been awarded a SG$480k (AUD$371k) grant from the SPRING Singaporean Government enterprise development agency for a “Proof of Value” project to develop low light indoor sensor network product suitable for commercialisation within a two year time frame.

The “Proof of Value” project involves proving concepts with liquid DSC systems and then migrating to a fully integrated solid state DSC CEGS device using the best available solid state DSC technology to create a first-mover advantage in selected market applications.

“Dyesol’s relationship with Printed Power is focussed on the development of autonomous self-powered devices and bringing these products to market,” said NTU professor Subohd Mhaisalkar, director of Printed Power.

“DSC lends itself to this application in two ways – as an extremely efficient indoor energy harvesting system, and as a viable low-cost printable technology compatible with mass production,” Thompson added.

“The commercial product development activity being undertaken by Printed Power provides an early opportunity to exploit the excellent solid state DSC research being undertaken by École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Dyesol and NTU where impressive efficiencies in the double digit range under a broad spectrum of light conditions have now been achieved,” said professor Michael Grätzel, who directs the Laboratory of Photonics and Interfaces at EPFL, where world leading research into DSC occurs.