A lightweight, compact and efficient supercapacitor printed on a flexible plastic sheet has been developed by researchers at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). Supercapacitors are devices that could one day replace batteries used in electric cars, cell phones or laptops, because they charge very quickly, and work at almost 100% efficiency. But they are usually bulky and can only store limited amounts of energy. Reducing their size without losing efficiency has proved challenging. Fabricating them using existing methods is also costly and complicated.
Ynvisible Interactive Inc. (Vancouver, Canada), a company that specialises in creating ultra-low power displays for printed electronics, has been granted an EU patent for a specialised electrolyte formulation that allows for the integration of electrochromic inks directly into the electrolyte layers. This formulation offers a reduction in the overall number of ink layers required to produce electrochromic devices, substantially increasing manufacturing efficiency.
The 5th annual Innovations in Large-Area Electronics Conference will be returning to the Wellcome Genome Campus Conference Centre in Hinxton, Cambridge, on 22-23 January 2019, to deliver a programme highlighting the most innovative and exciting aspects of large-area electronics - a new way of making electronics which includes printable, flexible, plastic, organic and bio- electronics.
