24 Mar 2021

Invisible "Keyhole" Made of Printed, Transparent Electronics
What initially looks like a simple transparent film conceals a whole new level of security. Invisible buttons are printed with conductive ink on the transparent carrier material, the position of which is known only to insiders. Such circuits can be connected to a door lock as an access code, for instance. If the buttons on the polymer film are pressed in the correct order, the door opens.
17 Mar 2021

Energy Harvesting Smart Floors
Researchers have made wood compressible and turned it into a micro-generator. When it is loaded, an electrical voltage is generated. In this way, the wood can serve as a bio-sensor - or generate usable energy. The latest highlight: To ensure that the process does not require aggressive chemicals, naturally occurring wood-degrading fungi take over the task of modifying the wood.
26 Oct 2020

Turning Streetwear Into Solar Power Plants
Researchers have succeeded in developing a material that works like a luminescent solar concentrator and can even be applied to textiles. This opens up numerous possibilities for producing energy directly where it is needed, i.e. in the use of everyday electronics.
Update interview
10 Sep 2020

TwingTec
Twingtec was founded in 2013 as a spin-off from leading research and academic institutions in Switzerland. The company is based in Switzerland and at the time of writing has 9 employees. IDTechEx talked to CEO Dr. Rolf Luchsinger.
Full profile interview
4 Sep 2020

Flisom
Flisom describes its flexible solar panels as customizable currently, meaning made to customer formats in their factory, developed in the Empa Photovoltaics Laboratory.
27 Aug 2020

Wood Based Biopaste for 3D Printing
A viscous biopaste that is easy to process, solidifies quickly and is suitable for producing even complex structures using the 3D printing process has been developed. The wood-based biodegradable synthetic could potentially be used in lightweight construction, amongst other things.
21 Jul 2020

Rock Star of Photovoltaics is CIGS
Estimates vary but we are certainly in $100 billion, 100GW territory with the booming photovoltaic market. The new IDTechEx report, "Electronics Reshaped 2020-2040" reveals solar market growth by new capabilities opening previously impossible applications.
2 Jul 2020

Emerging Photovoltaics: Materials Opportunity in New $38Bn Market
The new IDTechEx report, "Materials Opportunities in Emerging Photovoltaics 2020-2040", is based on interviews by multi-lingual, PhD level IDTechEx analysts across the world and 20 years tracking the research and applications. They predict $38 billion dollars in 2040 without colliding with the silicon-in-glass "power station" business. There will be many opportunities for premium pricing of its new specialist materials.
3 Apr 2020

Printing Complex Cellulose Based Objects
Researchers have set a new world record: they 3D printed complex objects with higher cellulose content than that of any other additively manufactured cellulose-based parts. To achieve this, they used a clever trick.
6 Mar 2020

Urban Use of Ultralight Flexible CIGS Thin Film Solar Cell
CIGS thin film solar cell: A kind of next-generation thin-film solar cell that can be fabricated on glass or (flexible) plastic substrate. This kind of solar cell shows high conversion efficiencies even with very a thin absorber layer with 1-2 μm thickness.
2 Mar 2020

Thin-Film Solar Cells Generate as Much Energy as Traditional Ones
Scientists have become the first to achieve an energy efficiency of 25 percent with a thin-film solar cell. This means that this wafer-thin solar cell generates as much energy as a traditional silicon solar cell.