Plextronics and NTERA Team-up at LOPE-C to Demonstrate Solar-Powered NanoChromics Displays

Printed electronics companies Plextronics, Inc. and NTERA are teaming up at the Large-Area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention (LOPE-C) in Frankfurt, Germany, to provide a working demonstration that combines the key aspects and attributes of their respective technologies.

The functional demonstrator features NTERA’s innovative NanoChromics display technology, and is directly powered by a Plextronics organic photovoltaic (OPV) solar cell printed with Plexcore ink technology. This integrated demonstrator does not require any active electronic components, which captures the simplicity of combining these printed electronic technologies.

Printed color changing displays, such as the one in this demo, are being utilized on smart cards, novel packaging solutions, point of purchasing advertisements, and a host of other emerging product applications.By combining energy harvesting technologies (such as OPV) with printed displays, it’s possible to achieve cost-effective, self-powering solutions for these applications.

Greg Holland, director of product engineering at Plextronics, said, “The demonstrator showcases the fact that organic solar technology – Plextronics’ specialty – can easily provide enough voltage, even in low light conditions, to power NTERA’s NanoChromics display. This opens up a world of opportunities and possible product applications for our industry.”

“We are really excited about this joint demonstration with Plextronics because it shows the value that integrated printed electronics solutions can deliver to the market today,” said Chris Giacoponello, vice president of business development and marketing for NTERA. “By combining our two technologies, we can create self-powered display systems that are incredibly cost-effective and broadly applicable.The functional integration of printed electronics technologies is a key milestone in the evolution of this industry, and our demonstration highlights what is possible with technologies that are available today.”

The demonstration will be featured at the Plextronics booth (H13) at LOPE-C. Additionally, it will be discussed at length during a presentation by Giacoponello at 3:00 p.m. on June 25 at the Display Card session of the Main Conference. His presentation focuses on recent advancements in self-powering display systems and the integration of printed displays with energy harvesting technologies.