fantastic plastic

Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have developed thin, flexible energy storage devices consisting of more than 90 percent cellulose. The paper is infused with aligned carbon nanotubes (electrodes), and an electrolyte (e.g. an ionic liquid). The technology allows to fabricate batteries, supercapacitors, or devices which combine both functions.

According to the press release, the devices can be biocompatible

and these new hybrid battery/supercapcitors have potential as power supplies for devices implanted in the body. The team printed paper batteries without adding any electrolytes, and demonstrated that naturally occurring electrolytes in human sweat, blood, and urine can be used to activate the battery device.
“It’s a way to power a small device such as a pacemaker without introducing any harsh chemicals – such as the kind that are typically found in batteries — into the body,” Pushparaj said.

Regarding manufacturing:

The materials required to create the paper batteries are inexpensive, Murugesan said, but the team has not yet developed a way to inexpensively mass produce the devices. The end goal is to print the paper using a roll-to-roll system similar to how newspapers are printed.

The work has been published in PNAS (Flexible energy storage devices based on nanocomposite paper), and a patent has been filed.

According to a new report by NanoMarkets,

the market for OLEDs used in displays and lighting applications is expected to reach $10.9 billion ($US) by 2012 and grow to $15.5 billion by the year 2014.

The report discusses the use of OLEDs for mobile devices, flexible/rollable displays, and lighting applications.
[via CNET news]

MicroEmissive Displays (makers of P-OLED microdisplays) announced that

the PDG – Personal Display Glasses, the world’s first mobile TV viewing experience employing the MDDI standard, is on display at 3GSM 2007 in Barcelona from 12 – 15th February.

The PDG is the most advanced integrated personal display and mobile phone solution on the market. The PDG has been developed by Mobintech A/S from Denmark and is enabled by ultra-low power P-OLED eyescreenâ„¢ microdisplays from MicroEmissive Displays.

According to their press release, MicroEmissive Displays (MED, Edinburgh, UK)

will start commissioning and qualification of its new production plant in the Fraunhofer IPMS in Dresden early in 2007. The move comes following the on-time handover of the purpose built cleanroom and delivery of the tool set from ANS Korea.

The 350 m² purpose built cleanroom is state of the art and is located within the substantial facilities of the Fraunhofer IPMS campus. Construction of the cleanroom was completed on time; equipment is in place and installation is already underway. The tool set, delivered from ANS Korea in December, comprises polymer OLED based deposition and thin film
encapsulation equipment for mass production.

At the same time MED has announced that

it has received a £2m order for its new polymer-OLED eyescreen™ microdisplay. The order, from a manufacturer of consumer products in the Far East, will also be the first to ship from the company’s new manufacturing facility in Dresden.

The order relates to MED’s new eyescreen™ ME3204 microdisplay. The new device is a compact 6 mm (0.24”) colour P-OLED QVGA display. The P-OLED technology is emissive and so does not require a backlight; as a result eyescreen™ ME3204 is ideal for portable applications such as video glasses or head-mounted displays, electronic view finders and night vision systems. The microdisplay can be combined with magnifying optics to produce a large virtual image that appears to the eye to be equivalent in dimensions to the picture on a TV screen or computer display.

In addition eyescreenâ„¢ ME3204 features a digital video interface together with an integrated display driver eliminating the need for additional driver ICs. This design feature saves space and reduces both power consumption and BoM costs.

The New York times has an article (free registration required) on newspapers going electronic. The Belgian newspaper “De Tijd” is currently running a trial (Mobile Read article) with the iRex iLiad Reader. [via Engadget]

Supercapacitors or ultracapacitors use electrodes with very high surface area (e.g. porous activated carbon) and are currently used in niche application such as hybrid vehicles.
Among the advantages over electrochemical batteries are the high charge/discharge rate and stability. However, energy densities are relatively low compared to traditional batteries.

New electrode materials with increased surface area have the potential to make hypercapacitors attractive for a wider range of mobile applications.
The approach developed at MIT’s Laboratory of Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES), uses vertically-aligned single-walled carbon nanotubes.
From the MIT Technology Review:

Ultracapacitors could allow laptops and cell phones to be charged in a minute. And unlike laptop batteries, which start losing their ability to hold a charge after a year or two, they could still be going strong long after the device is obsolete. “Theoretically, there’s no process that would cause the [ultracapacitor] to need to be replaced,” says professor John Kassakian, another of the researchers.

The main hurdle the new technology is likely to face is not technical but economic. “The nanomaterials are probably a hundred or a thousand times more expensive, today, than the materials that we use,”

Other large surface area materials for ultracapacitors include carbon aerogels and barium titanate.

MobileRead compares the specs of the recently announced iRex Iliad (December 2005) and the Sony Reader (January 2006, successor to the Librie):

Dimensions:
Sony: 6.9″ by 4.9″ by .5″
iRex: 6.1″ by 8.5″ by .63″

Weight:
Sony: 8.8 ounces
iRex: 13.7 ounces

Screen:
Sony: 6-inch SVGA 800X600 4 grey scales (same like the Sony Librie)
iRex: 8.1-inch XGA 1024×768 16 grey scales

Internal memory:
Sony: ? “approximately 80 unillustrated books”
iRex: 64MB RAM, 224MB FLASH

Expansion slots:
Sony: SD, Memory Stick
iRex: SD, CF II

Support e-book formats:
Sony: BBeB Book (Sony Librie), Adobe PDF, JPEG, MP3
iRex: Adobe PDF, XHTML, TXT, MP3, others in near future

Others interfaces:
Sony: headphone jack
iRex: headphone jack, WiFi 802.11b, 10/100Mb Ethernet

Price:
Sony: USD $299-$399
iRex: ?

The iRex packs more features into a slightly larger device and supports more formats. Seeing as it has WiFi and can render HTML, I hope they include a web browser. E Ink will be perfectly adequate for mainly text-based pages, such as news sites or webmail. Animations or scrolling are not really essential anyway…

Note: iRex is a Philips spin-out. The first electronic ink ebook reader, the Librie, was a collaboration between Philips, Sony, and E Ink.

___________________________

UPDATE: the iRex Iliad went on sale in June 2006 for EUR 650; the more affordable/basic Sony reader in September 2006 for USD 350.

AU Optronics Eyeing the Growing Handset Market:

Its no secret that the Shadow Masking Process, widely used today, for OLED production has its resolution limitations. The highest resolution achieved by the process is around 170ppi. AUO has overcome this industry hurdle and revolutionized a pixel design that progresses the resolution of OLED to reach VGA grade standards (640 RGB x 480). AUO will debut this latest technology in its 3″ VGA AMOLED prototype with resolution as high as 270 ppi (pixel per inch), bringing OLED resolutions to new level highs. […] Dr. JJ Lih, Director of OLED Division at AUO noted, ” Our revolutionary design has been a breakthrough in dramatically improving resolution levels, without having to increase costs. [We]’ve also managed at the same time to maintain contrast ratio to >10,000:1 and fast response time <1ms.

Sporting an impressive 640×480 (741 dpi) resolution, this watch looks like one of the more usable ultra-mobile computing gadgets. Of course, this is only a prototype and could benefit from further miniaturization. An article at ZDNet points out that,

The pixels are so small that sprinkling them judiciously gives the illusion of the ability to show a range of shades of gray […].