IDTechEx

Printed sensors: an overview

There is an increasingly greater need for a wide choice of sensors to make objects smarter, safer and more responsive. Printing is the natural way to process wet inks and pastes, and it is therefore no surprise that printing has been used to make sensors for years. But there are new materials appearing, taking advantage of the progress that have been enabled by printed electronics. The article gives an overview of what is currently happening in the field of printed sensors. In particular, we will overview main trends in commercialising printed glucose sensors, force and pressure sensors, image and light sensors, gas sensors and temperature sensors. We will highlight key companies commercialising each printed sensor type.

Saft Batteries

SAFT Batteries has products in a broad diverse portfolio of applications and markets, with the exception of cars and consumer products. The company's main business is in batteries, and not supercapacitors. However they have acquired a licence from ESMA/Elton to develop nickel supercapacitors based on aqueous electrolytes.

Arjowiggins Creative Papers

Arjowiggins is a manufacturer of creative and technical paper. The company has launched PowerCoat, a paper substrate product with unique features focussed for the printed electronics market.

Interlink Electronics

Printed sensors are not a novelty: force sensing resistors (FSR) is a proven technology and are manufactured by screen printing a functional polymer. Interlink Electronics was the first company to commercialize FSR and has more than 25 years of experience in manufacturing them. But there has been a lack of innovation. The company is now looking for new acquisitions and partnerships.

The light industrial & commercial EV business will exceed $20b by 2023

IDTechEx projects that 119,000 electric taxis will be sold giving a $1.8 billion global market. Most of the commercial electric vehicles, including the taxis, are and will be pure electric. That will even be true of large commercial vehicles, notably e-buses, set to exceed a $20 billion market as early as 2018 and dominated by demand in China.

International attendance for Printed Electronics Asia

The speakers at the unique event Printed Electronics Asia 2013 are flying in from the United States, the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Portugal, Germany, Netherlands, Finland, Belgium, France, South Africa, Singapore, Hong Kong, China and Korea. There are many speakers from research institutes and companies in Japan as well. Analysts IDTechEx, who are organising the event, have chosen best-in-class speakers from the whole world.

Flexible Display Center at Arizona State University

The Flexible Display Center (FDC) has been involved in flexible displays for nearly 10 years. They have a unique expertise in North America and have enjoyed continuous funding from the US Army. They are now putting more focus on non-display applications such as X-ray detection and biochemical sensing.

Cambridge Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic announce partnership

Cambridge University's Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic have signed a formal collaboration agreement, marking Plastic Logic joining the Centre to start work on a specific research programme, aimed ultimately at revolutionising the commercial exploitation of graphene in flexible plastic electronics, where the UK enjoys a world-leading position.

OLED Lighting Market- Forecasts and Analysis

In this article, we forecast the market growth for OLED lighting for a variety of market segmented including outdoor, office, and industrial, hospitality, shop, architectural and residential. For each market segment, we forecast market share, area and monetary value.

Flexible energy harvesting: enabling new form factors in electronics

Flexible portable electronics, in order to retain their versatility would benefit from harvesters and batteries or supercapacitors on plastic substrates.

Gold ink market to reach $50 million in 2018

In 2013 the market size for gold ink for electronic and electrical applications is less than $1 million - used mainly for academic work and some early stage work in healthcare products. However, a new report from IDTechEx Research titled New Opportunities for Gold: Conductive Inks for the Electronics Industry 2013-2019 finds that with demand from medical applications, edge connectors and interfaces with organic materials such as sensors the market will growth to $50 million in 2018, in the "most likely" scenario.

Webinar - 3D printing: An overview

IDTechEx, the leading market research firm covering printed electronics and emerging materials will explain some of its findings in this free webinar which includes data from the new IDTechEx report "3D Printing 2013-2025: Technologies, Markets, Players".

The electric vehicle business: new developments

IDTechEx find that pure electric car sales in 2013 will be 70,000 vehicles rising to 2 million in 2023, versus 2 million hybrid vehicles this year rising to 7.6 million in 2023.

Visualplanet

Visual Planet is a niche Cambridge-based company offering very large-sized transparent touch sensors. Their technology is based on a fine metal wire mesh concept, which enables low-cost but large-sized solutions. They key target markets are interactive digital signage and advertisement. A key selling point is their ability to customize the sensor layout and performance in this fragmented space.

Webinar: Electric motors for EVs 2013-2023 - forecasts & trends

Leading technology analysts IDTechEx will run this free webinar which includes data from the new IDTechEx report "Electric Motors for Electric Vehicles 2013-2023: Forecasts, Technologies, Players".

Energy harvesting returns to the forefront

2008 to 2010 saw huge enthusiasm and interest in the development of small energy harvesters.

Applications for thermoelectric energy harvesters

Thermoelectric generators are devices that based on the Seebeck effect, convert temperature differences into electrical energy. Although thermoelectric phenomena have been used for heating and cooling applications quite extensively, it is only in recent years that interest has increased in energy generation.