David Savastano, Editor02.16.11
The field of printed electronics is clearly evolving, and it is interesting to hear the perspective of people who have long been involved in the field. From time to time, Printed Electronics Now will interview some of the leaders in the field, and present their viewpoints.
This week, we spoke with Dr. Vishal Shrotriya, technology director for Solarmer Energy, a specialist in plastic solar cells headquarted in El Monte, CA. Active in the field of organic and printed electronics for the last 10 years, Dr. Shrotriya’s research focus has been on organic materials and devices for electronic and optoelectronic applications including LEDs, solar cells, and transistors. Dr. Shrotriya is leading the company’s efforts on improving the stability and lifetime of its plastic solar cells. He is also involved in business development and building strategic partnerships for Solarmer.
Dr. Shrotriya received his master’s degree and Ph.D. in materials science from University of California, Los Angeles, and bachelor’s degree from IIT Bombay, India. He has co-authored more than 30 journal papers and patents related to polymer solar cells and has presented at several international conferences. Dr. Shrotriya also has a certificate in management of technology from California Institute of Technology.
Printed Electronics Now: What is your background in the field of PE?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: I have been active in the field of printed electronics for more than 10 years. I did my doctoral research at UCLA on high efficiency organic photovoltaic cells. I have research experience in organic TFTs and OLEDs as well. For the last four years, I have been working at Solarmer Energy which is a developer of organic photovoltaics. I have studied the printed electronics industry for many years and have worked with companies across the OPV value chain covering materials developers, device developers, manufacturers, equipment makers and potential customers.
Solarmer Energy is a leader in OPV technology and the company recognized early on that while many factors influence the overall efficiency of OPV cells, the organic polymer which lies at the heart of an OPV is especially critical. Since 2009, Solarmer had consistently delivered high performance polymers, and have demonstrated world record efficiencies. In July 2010, Solarmer became the first company to break the psychological barrier of 8% in cell efficiency with a NREL certified 8.13%. Solarmer has also demonstrated 4% module efficiency certified by Newport Corporation, which is also a world record for OPV modules. This is key because while many companies and academic research groups are showing high efficiencies for very small cells (1 cm2 or less in area), it is much more challenging to demonstrate high efficiency on larger sized modules.
Solarmer is further focusing its efforts on the development of roll-to-roll manufacturing process for OPV panels. Its pilot production line became operational in Q2 2010 and is currently being used to perfect the manufacturing process. Solarmer’s goal is to make PV technology comparable in total costs to fossil fuels.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry changed since you first joined the field?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: The PE industry has changed remarkably over the last decade. A change which is easy to notice is the number and type of attendance at various printed electronics conferences and shows. We are witnessing an increasing participation from new start-ups as well as large corporations who are now trying to enter this potentially large market. We are also seeing a lot more interest from customers and downstream companies.
Another trend that we see is increased support from the government for printed electronics projects. This is more so in Europe and Asia, but the U.S. is also catching up fast. Finally, we are starting to see first PE products in the market. This is a far cry from the 1990s and early 2000s, when organic and printed electronics were primarily confined to academic research with no clear commercialization path. Overall, the increasing activity in the PE arena is resulting in a lot more innovation and is ultimately good for the industry.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: One of the most important factors in the advancement of PE over the last few years is the development of new and better functional materials. For example, in the case of OPVs, power conversion efficiency has improved from around 1% to more than 8% in the last decade due to the development of newer low-band-gap polymers. Materials are the fundamental building block of PE technology and most of the advantages of PE products over their traditional counterparts come from unique materials properties. Therefore, the biggest impact on the growth of PE industry has come from newer, better, more efficient materials and inks.
The second area of improvement has been the development of scalable manufacturing processes, primarily roll-to-roll based, which allow for very low-cost production. An interesting thing to note is that most of the basic coating and printing technologies already exist, and only need to be tailored to meet the specifications of PE fabrication. However, there is a huge difference in the print quality for graphics vs. electronics devices. In the former, you only need to fool the human eye, but in the latter, you are dealing with the electrons and holes. Increasing interest in printed electronics from printing companies, who are facing pressures in their core business areas, has been a positive development for the industry.
Finally, I believe the customers are waking up to the potential of printed electronics. With the arrival of first generation products in the market, printed electronics is finally making the transition from lab to fab to market, at least for some applications like solar cells and OLEDs. With this comes the knowledge about what the customers really want, what the areas of improvement are, and what needs to be done to deliver winning products. All this is very valuable to printed electronics companies. It will help them target the right applications, which may not necessarily replace traditional electronics, but may allow for the development of new applications which were hitherto not possible.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: As I said earlier, active materials are, and will remain, the most important building block of the printed electronics industry. There will always be a need for better, cheaper and more stable materials. One of the major imitations for several printed and organic electronics devices is the limited charge mobility in active materials. Also, for solar cells there is a need for low-band gap polymers. Finally, poor stability for organic electronics devices in ambient conditions is a big concern.
There is a clear need for more stable active and other functional materials, as well as better packaging and encapsulation technologies. Similarly, several technical hurdles still remain in reliable large scale production of printed electronics products. This includes better control of the registration, thickness, coating quality, etc. The promise of true low-cost electronics will only be delivered with the development of high-speed, high-yield, low-cost manufacturing processes.
Finally, I think one of the most important hurdles that the PE industry needs to cross is to find the early adopters for their products. It is very important to find the right applications which can take advantage of the unique benefits of printed electronics products.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: In the near term, I see an increasing activity in the industry, especially in forming alliances to cover the value chain and deliver truly valuable solutions to the customers based on printed electronics. In terms of technology, we expect a lot more thrust on manufacturing process development. We should start seeing more and more products in the market, from flexible displays to solar cells to printed batteries to sensors and RFIDs. In the long term, I anticipate that printed electronics will continue to grow and find newer applications in mobile, lightweight and versatile products.
Dr. Shrotriya received his master’s degree and Ph.D. in materials science from University of California, Los Angeles, and bachelor’s degree from IIT Bombay, India. He has co-authored more than 30 journal papers and patents related to polymer solar cells and has presented at several international conferences. Dr. Shrotriya also has a certificate in management of technology from California Institute of Technology.
Printed Electronics Now: What is your background in the field of PE?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: I have been active in the field of printed electronics for more than 10 years. I did my doctoral research at UCLA on high efficiency organic photovoltaic cells. I have research experience in organic TFTs and OLEDs as well. For the last four years, I have been working at Solarmer Energy which is a developer of organic photovoltaics. I have studied the printed electronics industry for many years and have worked with companies across the OPV value chain covering materials developers, device developers, manufacturers, equipment makers and potential customers.
Solarmer Energy is a leader in OPV technology and the company recognized early on that while many factors influence the overall efficiency of OPV cells, the organic polymer which lies at the heart of an OPV is especially critical. Since 2009, Solarmer had consistently delivered high performance polymers, and have demonstrated world record efficiencies. In July 2010, Solarmer became the first company to break the psychological barrier of 8% in cell efficiency with a NREL certified 8.13%. Solarmer has also demonstrated 4% module efficiency certified by Newport Corporation, which is also a world record for OPV modules. This is key because while many companies and academic research groups are showing high efficiencies for very small cells (1 cm2 or less in area), it is much more challenging to demonstrate high efficiency on larger sized modules.
Solarmer is further focusing its efforts on the development of roll-to-roll manufacturing process for OPV panels. Its pilot production line became operational in Q2 2010 and is currently being used to perfect the manufacturing process. Solarmer’s goal is to make PV technology comparable in total costs to fossil fuels.
Printed Electronics Now: How has the printed electronics industry changed since you first joined the field?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: The PE industry has changed remarkably over the last decade. A change which is easy to notice is the number and type of attendance at various printed electronics conferences and shows. We are witnessing an increasing participation from new start-ups as well as large corporations who are now trying to enter this potentially large market. We are also seeing a lot more interest from customers and downstream companies.
Another trend that we see is increased support from the government for printed electronics projects. This is more so in Europe and Asia, but the U.S. is also catching up fast. Finally, we are starting to see first PE products in the market. This is a far cry from the 1990s and early 2000s, when organic and printed electronics were primarily confined to academic research with no clear commercialization path. Overall, the increasing activity in the PE arena is resulting in a lot more innovation and is ultimately good for the industry.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the key advancements that have allowed for these changes to occur?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: One of the most important factors in the advancement of PE over the last few years is the development of new and better functional materials. For example, in the case of OPVs, power conversion efficiency has improved from around 1% to more than 8% in the last decade due to the development of newer low-band-gap polymers. Materials are the fundamental building block of PE technology and most of the advantages of PE products over their traditional counterparts come from unique materials properties. Therefore, the biggest impact on the growth of PE industry has come from newer, better, more efficient materials and inks.
The second area of improvement has been the development of scalable manufacturing processes, primarily roll-to-roll based, which allow for very low-cost production. An interesting thing to note is that most of the basic coating and printing technologies already exist, and only need to be tailored to meet the specifications of PE fabrication. However, there is a huge difference in the print quality for graphics vs. electronics devices. In the former, you only need to fool the human eye, but in the latter, you are dealing with the electrons and holes. Increasing interest in printed electronics from printing companies, who are facing pressures in their core business areas, has been a positive development for the industry.
Finally, I believe the customers are waking up to the potential of printed electronics. With the arrival of first generation products in the market, printed electronics is finally making the transition from lab to fab to market, at least for some applications like solar cells and OLEDs. With this comes the knowledge about what the customers really want, what the areas of improvement are, and what needs to be done to deliver winning products. All this is very valuable to printed electronics companies. It will help them target the right applications, which may not necessarily replace traditional electronics, but may allow for the development of new applications which were hitherto not possible.
Printed Electronics Now: What are the technical hurdles that need to be overcome to move PE forward?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: As I said earlier, active materials are, and will remain, the most important building block of the printed electronics industry. There will always be a need for better, cheaper and more stable materials. One of the major imitations for several printed and organic electronics devices is the limited charge mobility in active materials. Also, for solar cells there is a need for low-band gap polymers. Finally, poor stability for organic electronics devices in ambient conditions is a big concern.
There is a clear need for more stable active and other functional materials, as well as better packaging and encapsulation technologies. Similarly, several technical hurdles still remain in reliable large scale production of printed electronics products. This includes better control of the registration, thickness, coating quality, etc. The promise of true low-cost electronics will only be delivered with the development of high-speed, high-yield, low-cost manufacturing processes.
Finally, I think one of the most important hurdles that the PE industry needs to cross is to find the early adopters for their products. It is very important to find the right applications which can take advantage of the unique benefits of printed electronics products.
Printed Electronics Now: Where do you see the field of printed electronics heading in both the near term and, say, 10 years from now?
Dr. Vishal Shrotriya: In the near term, I see an increasing activity in the industry, especially in forming alliances to cover the value chain and deliver truly valuable solutions to the customers based on printed electronics. In terms of technology, we expect a lot more thrust on manufacturing process development. We should start seeing more and more products in the market, from flexible displays to solar cells to printed batteries to sensors and RFIDs. In the long term, I anticipate that printed electronics will continue to grow and find newer applications in mobile, lightweight and versatile products.