At the heart of the Plextronics technology is the design and synthesis of high-performance conductive and semiconductive polymers, specifically regioregular polythiophenes. Key characteristics driving polymer design and synthesis include molecular weight, energy absorption bandgap, and end-group functionality. Plastics normally do not conduct electricity, but conducting polymers are synthesized by delocalizing electrons along conjugated polymer backbones. This is possible only with certain types of plastics, such as polythiophenes. Alan Heeger, Alan MacDiarmid, and Hideki Shirakawa received the 2000 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for discovering and developing conductive polymers.
The polymers have particular commercial potential in printed electronics, because they can be produced in roll-to-roll manufacturing systems on flexible substrates. One target application is the charging of batteries in remote locations, such as combat zones.
Plextronics built a Development Line in 2009 in Harmarville, Pa., to demonstrate larger-scale applications and to accelerate the development of inks that could be used in manufacturing processes. Development work has focused mainly on OPV device and ink engineering over the last couple of years, but the company plans to begin transitioning this year to running more OLED lighting panels.
Printed electronics and organic photovoltaics are two of the business development pillars in the Solvay Innovation Center, which was formed last year. The other two are nanotechnologies and renewable feedstocks. Solvay also has taken a minority stake in Polyera Corp., an Illinois company that develops materials for the printed electronics market.
Rollman told Design News that the OLED technology is closer to commercialization than the OPV technology. Plextronics last published an efficiency rating for its OPV cells about 18 months ago. At that time, the efficiency was better than 6 percent, but "we have become more sensitive about reporting that data, because of conflicting methods companies are using to report efficiency data."
Plextronics has 67 employees and expects to add up to eight more in the coming year.
How do you expect Plextronics will fare in the market against OLED behemoths like Sony and Samsung? Also, the ink part of the story was really interesting. Does this mean that Plextronics could potentially be a supplier not just of displays, but of some of the materials to make the displays (i.e., the ink)? Seems like that would be huge, because then the Sonys and Samsungs would be potential customers and Plextronics would be positioned as an alternative supplier to Dupont, albeit a somewhat smaller one.
Plextronics has a unique technology Alex. A Massachusetts company called Konarka (UMass Lowell spinoff) has also developed advanced conductive polymers but it is focusing on the organic photovoltaic market. Plextronics is developing inks at a separate R&D facility in Harmarville, PA. The market will decide which of the new technologies it most prefers. Plextronics is still operating in the red and needed the cash infuion from Solvay. Solvay's move is significant because it is a leader in innovative chemistries and could potentially become a manufacturing and marketing partner, as well as a technology and financial partner.
Plextronics in effect would become a Tier 3 or 4 supplier in the marekt, and would not compete directly against Sony or Samsung.
Andrew Morris designed a circuit that could detect a stroke victim's groan and convert the sound into a signal so caregivers would know when help was needed.
New disc magnet motors fit into the design trend of stepping up to closed loop performance while maintaining the cost advantage of stepper motor technology.
At the Design News webinar on June 27, learn all about aluminum extrusion: designing the right shape so it costs the least, is simplest to manufacture, and best fits the application's structural requirements.
On April 21, NASA launched a novel project, putting into orbit three satellites that employ an off-the-shelf commercial smartphone as the control system.
From Dell / Intel® New Paradigms in Design Work Scott Hamilton, vertical market strategist for Dell Precision workstations, 5/2/2013 5
Early in my career, I worked as a draftsman and remember the days of drawing on vellum with numbered pencils and Mylar with plastic lead. This was a fun experience in the sense that I ...
I've been using workstations for more than 10 years and love finding ways to get more performance from my system. With demanding professional applications that require more power each ...
A lasting memory from my first job as an engineer in an auto assembly plant is standing on hard concrete at six in the morning, vending-machine coffee clutched in hand, listening to ...
For industrial control applications, or even a simple assembly line, that machine can go almost 24/7 without a break. But what happens when the task is a little more complex? That’s where the “smart” machine would come in. The smart machine is one that has some simple (or complex in some cases) processing capability to be able to adapt to changing conditions. Such machines are suited for a host of applications, including automotive, aerospace, defense, medical, computers and electronics, telecommunications, consumer goods, and so on. This radio show will show what’s possible with smart machines, and what tradeoffs need to be made to implement such a solution.
To save this item to your list of favorite Design News content so you can find it later in your Profile page, click the "Save It" button next to the item.
If you found this interesting or useful, please use the links to the services below to share it with other readers. You will need a free account with each service to share an item via that service.
Tweet This
0 
