Speaker: Katharina Gerber | Company: LiCap Technologies | Date: 9-10 Feb 2022 | Full Presentation Solid state #electrolytes (SSEs) can improve safety of batteries due to the reduced possibility of thermal runaway that is more likely to occur in the presence of liquid electrolytes used in lithium ion batteries. However, lack of scalable processes allowing to produce SSEs with the necessary combination of thickness, uniformity, interfacial impedance and mechanical strength, hinders commercialization of solid-state batteries (SSBs). Whether as glass or in ceramic form, SSEs usually require high temperature sintering or vapor deposition to consolidate the films and manage interfacial impedance. The resulting films are brittle, and available manufacturing methods are limited to production of tiny cells with low capacity. LiCAP Technologies, Inc. has a patented Activated Dry Electrode technology, which makes processing of battery materials more cost-effective and sustainable and, is uniquely suitable for handling of sensitive SSB materials. R2R Activated Dry Electrode process is already proven on industrial scale in world’s fastest manufacturing of ultracapacitor electrodes and has been piloted in R2R production of electrodes for lithium-ion batteries. In 2022 LiCAP will launch development of scalable R2R process for the solid-state battery industry. Join TechBlick on an annual pass to join all live online conference or online version of onsite conference access library of on-demand talks (600 talks + PDFs) portfolio of expert led masterclass year-round platform https://www.techblick.com/ Our next battery-related event will take place on 15-16 FEB 2023, covering 1) Solid-State Batteries: Innovations, Promising Start-Ups, & Future Roadmap 2) Battery Materials: Next-Generation & Beyond Lithium Ion The speakers include: General Motors, Graphenix Development, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fraunhofer IKTS, RWTH Aachen University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Meta Materials Inc, Skeleton Technologies, Solid State Battery Inc, Argonne National Laboratories, OneD Battery Sciences, VTT, Leyden Jar Technologies B.V., b-Science, Rho Motion, Wevo-Chemie, LiNA Energy, CNM Technologies, Ionblox, Empa, Zinc8 Energy Solutions, Avicenne Energy, Echiontech, South8 Technologies, Basquevolt, NanoXplore, Chasm, Li Metal, Sila Nanotechnologies, Quantumscape (tentative), Fraunhofer ISI, etc https://www.techblick.com/

Speaker: Jean-Charles Souriau | Company: CEA| Date: 11-12 May 2021 | Full Presentation ChipInFlex is CEA-Leti's latest development towards the integration of ultra-thin, bare silicon chips within a flexible film. Today, electronic systems are becoming smaller, thinner and, above all, flexible. Flexibility makes possible new functions and hence new usages. With Chip-In-Flex, CEA-Leti is introducing a new paradigm for integrating ultra-thin, bare chips into a flexible label made on a silicon wafer. Join TechBlick on an annual pass to join all live online conference or online version of onsite conference access library of on-demand talks (600 talks + PDFs) portfolio of expert led masterclass year-round platform https://www.techblick.com/ And do NOT miss our flagship event in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 focused on Reshaping the Future of Electronics. This event attracts 550-600 participants from all the world and offers a superb ambience and dynamic exhibition floor. To learn more visit https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped To see feedback about previous event see https://www.techblick.com/events-agenda

Engineers at UC Berkeley have developed a new technique for making wearable sensors that enables medical researchers to prototype test new designs much faster and at a far lower cost than existing methods. The new technique replaces photolithography—a multistep process used to make computer chips in clean rooms—with a $200 vinyl cutter. The novel approach slashes the time to make small batches of sensors by nearly 90% while cutting costs by almost 75%, said Renxiao Xu (Ph.D.'20 ME), who developed the technique while pursuing his Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at Berkeley. "Most researchers working on medical devices have no background in photolithography," Xu said. "Our method makes it easy and inexpensive for them to change their sensor design on a computer and then send the file to the vinyl cutter to make." A description of the technique was published in ACS Nano. Xu, who now works at Apple, and Liwei Lin, professor of mechanical engineering and co-director of the Berkeley Sensor and Actuator Center, were the lead researchers. Wearable sensors are often used by researchers to gather medical data from patients over extended periods of time. They range from adhesive bandages on the skin to stretchable implants on organs, and harness sophisticated sensors to monitor health or diagnose illnesses. These devices consist of flat wires, called interconnects, as well as sensors, power sources, and antennas to communicate data to smartphone apps or other receivers. To maintain full functionality, they must stretch, flex and twist with the skin and organs they are mounted on—without generating strains that would compromise their circuitry. To achieve low-strain flexibility, engineers use an "island-bridge" structure, Xu said. The islands house rigid electronics and sensor components, such as commercial resistors, capacitors, and lab-synthesized components like carbon nanotubes. The bridges link the islands to one another. Their spiral and zigzag shapes stretch like springs to accommodate large deformations. In the past, researchers have built these island-bridge systems using photolithography, a multistep process that uses light to create patterns on semiconductor wafers. Making wearable sensors this way requires a clean room and sophisticated equipment. The new technique is simpler, faster, and more economical, especially when making the one or two dozen samples that medical researchers typically need for testing. Making sensors starts by attaching an adhesive sheet of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) to a Mylar (biaxially oriented PET) substrate. Other plastics would also work, Xu said. A vinyl cutter then shapes them using two types of cuts. The first, the tunnel cut, slices through only the top PET layer but leaves the Mylar substrate untouched. The second type, the through cut, carves through both layers. This is enough to produce island-bridge sensors. First, tunnel cuts are used in the upper adhesive PET layer to trace the path of the interconnects; then the cut PET segments are peeled off, leaving behind the pattern of interconnects on the exposed Mylar surface. Next, the entire plastic sheet is coated with gold (another conductive metal could be used as well). The remaining top PET layer is peeled away, leaving a Mylar surface with well-defined interconnects, as well as exposed metal openings and contact pads on the islands. Sensor elements are then attached to the contact pads. For electronic devices, such as resistors, a conductive paste and a common heat plate are used to secure the bond. Some lab-synthesized components, such as carbon nanotubes, can be applied directly to the pads without any heating. Once this step is done, the vinyl cutter uses through cuts to carve the sensor's contours, including spirals, zigzags, and other features. To demonstrate the technique, Xu and Lin developed a variety of stretchable elements and sensors. One mounts under the nose and measures human breath based on the tiny changes in temperatures it creates between the front and back of the sensor. "For a breath sensor, you don't want to something bulky," Lin said. "You want something thin and flexible, almost like a tape beneath your nose, so you can fall asleep while it records a signal over a long period of time." Another prototype consists of an array of water-resistant supercapacitors, which store electrical power like a battery but release it more rapidly. Supercapacitors could provide power for some types of sensors. "We could also make more complex sensors by adding capacitors or electrodes to make electrocardiogram measurements, or chip-sized accelerometers and gyroscopes to measure motion," Xu said. Size is sensor cutting's one key limitation. Its smallest features are 200 to 300 micrometers wide, while photolithography can produce features that are tens of micrometers wide. But most wearable sensors do not require such fine features, Xu noted. The researchers believe this technique could one day become a standard feature in every lab studying wearable sensors or new diseases. Prototypes could be designed using high-powered computer-aided design (CAD) software or simpler apps made especially for vinyl printers. More information: https://phys.org/news/2022-02-technique-wearable-sensors-faster-costly.amp

ETH Zurich researchers have created artificial colors by 3D printing certain nanostructures inspired by those of a butterfly. This principle can be used in the future to produce color screens. For their new technology, scientists in the group of Andrew deMello, Professor of Biochemical Engineering, drew inspiration from butterflies. The wings of the species Cynandra opis, native to tropical Africa, are decorated with brilliant colors. These are produced by extremely intricate regular surface structures in the size range of the wavelength of visible light. By deflecting light rays, these structures either amplify or cancel out individual color components of the light. Led by deMello, the researchers have succeeded in replicating the surface structures of Cynandra opis, as well as other modified structures, using a nano-​3D printing technique. In this way, they created an easy-to-use principle for the production of structures that generate structural colors. There are numerous examples of such structural coloration in nature, including irregular surface structures – for example, found in other butterfly species. “The regular nanostructures on the wings of Cynandra opis, however, were particularly well suited to reconstruction using 3D printing,” explains Xiaobao Cao, a former doctoral student of the deMello group and lead author of this study. The Cynandra opis structures consist of two grid layers stacked perpendicular to each other, with a lattice spacing of about 1/2 to 1 micrometer. Entire color palette By varying this lattice spacing and the height of the lattice rods in the range between 250 nanometres and 1.2 micrometers, the ETH researchers were able to produce 3D printed structures that generate all the colors of the visible spectrum. Many of these colors do not occur in the natural model (the butterfly) their structures are based on. The researchers succeeded in producing such surfaces using different materials, including a transparent polymer. “This made it possible to illuminate the structure from behind to bring out the color,” explains Stavros Stavrakis, a senior scientist in deMello group and co-author of the study. “This is the first time we’ve managed to produce all the colors of the visible spectrum as structural colors in a translucent material.” Security feature As part of the study, the scientists produced a miniature image of multi-hued structural-color pixels measuring 2 by 2 micrometers. Such tiny images could one day be used as a security feature on banknotes and other documents. Because the colors can be produced with transparent material, it would also be possible to manufacture color filters for optical technologies. This fits well with the main research activity of ETH Professor deMello’s group, which develops microfluidic systems – miniaturized systems for chemical and biological experiments. Large-scale production of nanostructures is also conceivable, the researchers say. A negative structure could be 3D printed to serve as a template, which would make it possible to produce large numbers of reproductions. This means the principle could be suitable for the manufacture of high-resolution color displays, such as thin bendable screens. And finally, the scientists point out that structural colors could replace the pigments used today in printing and painting. Structural colors have certain advantages over conventional pigments: they last longer because they do not fade when exposed to light, and in most cases, they have a better environmental footprint. Reference Cao X, Du Y, Guo Y, Hu G, Zhang M, Wang L, Zhou J, Gao Q, Fischer P, Wang J, Stavrakis S, deMello A: Replicating the Cynandra opis Butterfly's Structural Color for Bioinspired Bigrating Color Filters, Advanced Materials, 4. Januar 2022, doi: 10.1002/adma.202109161call_made More information: https://ethz.ch/en/news-and-events/eth-news/news/2022/02/applying-the-butterfly-principle.html

Innovative Portfolio Powers Solutions for Anti-counterfeiting, Tamper Detection, and Batteryless Condition Sensing Identiv, Inc. (NASDAQ: INVE), a global leader in digital security and identification in the Internet of Things (IoT), today announced its portfolio of near field communication (NFC)-enabled status detection tags for advanced IoT security. Identiv’s range of NFC tags is among the first available with NXP® NTAG® Semiconductors 22x DNA chip devices, adding unique capabilities for advanced anti-counterfeiting, new-to-market tamper detection, and batteryless condition sensing. Identiv’s sophisticated NFC tag designs based on NXP’s new NTAG 22x DNA chip series enable a wide range of sensing solutions for customers in healthcare and pharma, retail, smart packaging, supply chain control (e.g., blockchain), and augmented user experiences. The cutting-edge tamper-proof portfolio secures everyday objects in mobile anti-counterfeit authentication applications and closed-loop systems, tamper proof medications, beverages, and consumables, and senses specific conditions such as moisture, pressure, or fill level powered by an NFC field, all without a battery. The sensing tags with conductive and capacitive capabilities are ideal for status-aware applications enhancing quality assurance along the supply chain, verifying fill levels for refill orders or patient compliance, and wet/dry sensing for smart wound recovery or skin patches. “Our collaboration with Identiv catalyzes our constant quest for innovation in the smart, secure product space,” said Philippe Dubois, NXP Semiconductors Vice President, and General Manager Secure Edge Identification. “The NTAG 22x DNA series, NXP’s new NFC single-chip solutions, provide CC EAL3+ certified security, dual-mode tamper detection, and simple battery-free sensing for a broad range of IoT applications. With Identiv’s specialized tagging solutions for the NTAG 22x DNA series, manufacturers can now protect product authenticity and integrity, while enabling a new level of condition monitoring to assure product quality and correct handling.” The innovative status detection products enable advanced IoT security with a Secure Unique NFC (SUN) message authentication feature using AES-128 cryptography. SUN dynamically verifies message authenticity and integrity. Mutual authentication can further enhance security by protecting data against unauthorized access or malicious change attempts. According to a comprehensive research report by Market Research Future (MRFR), the global capacitive sensor market was valued at 27.03 billion in 2019 and the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) between 2020 and 2027 is predicted to be 5.2%. NFC-enabled capacitive sensing technology benefits the demanded market by simply adding high security to the solution. “As the demand for status detection and sensing solutions grow, Identiv is proud to expand our strategic collaboration with NXP to bring our customers and the broader market the latest in innovative technologies,” said Amir Khoshniyati, Identiv VP and GM, Transponders Business. “Whether regulating dosage in an insulin pump or determining when you need to order a refill of your favorite beauty care product, NFC tags with status detection and sensing capabilities improve our customers’ products and improve our everyday lives.” More information: https://www.identiv.com/community/2022/02/14/identiv-collaborates-with-nxp-on-nfc-enabled-secure-sensing-tags-for-product-integrity-and-condition-monitoring/

Speaker: Daniela Werlich | Company: Customcells | Date: 9-10 Feb 2022 | Full Presentation The cathode material gives a lithium-ion cell its decisive characteristics. It is therefore an important factor, especially with regard to the ever-increasing demands on energy density. We would like to show you which special parameters are important when choosing the right cathode material and we will go into the current trends and developments in this area. We will not only share information about the electrochemical characteristics but also examine challenges in processing, the cell design and the economic as well as ecologic components. Join TechBlick on an annual pass to join all live online conference or online version of onsite conference access library of on-demand talks (600 talks + PDFs) portfolio of expert led masterclass year-round platform https://www.techblick.com/ Our next battery-related event will take place on 15-16 FEB 2023, covering 1) Solid-State Batteries: Innovations, Promising Start-Ups, & Future Roadmap 2) Battery Materials: Next-Generation & Beyond Lithium Ion The speakers include: General Motors, Graphenix Development, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Fraunhofer IKTS, RWTH Aachen University, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories, Meta Materials Inc, Skeleton Technologies, Solid State Battery Inc, Argonne National Laboratories, OneD Battery Sciences, VTT, Leyden Jar Technologies B.V., b-Science, Rho Motion, Wevo-Chemie, LiNA Energy, CNM Technologies, Ionblox, Empa, Zinc8 Energy Solutions, Avicenne Energy, Echiontech, South8 Technologies, Basquevolt, NanoXplore, Chasm, Li Metal, Sila Nanotechnologies, Quantumscape (tentative), Fraunhofer ISI, etc https://www.techblick.com/

Within the joint project LAOLA (funding code: 03INT509AF), which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and has now been completed, large-area lighting applications with organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) on flexible substrates should be developed. The project focused on ultra-thin glass, which offers advantages compared to plastic as a substrate due to its excellent barrier properties. At the Fraunhofer Institute for Organic Electronics, Electron Beam and Plasma Technology FEP, the OLEDs were applied to the flexible glass using a roll-to-roll process. A surgical light designed using this process will be presented at LOPEC 2022, on March 23 and 24, 2022, in Munich, at the joint booth of the project coordinator Organic Electronics Saxony e.V. (OES), No. B0.308. The glare-free, homogeneous light of large-area organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) is perceived as very pleasant and offers many advantages for product design. In the recently completed LAOLA project, OLEDs were therefore developed as planar lighting for a wide range of applications on flexible substrates. The project focused on flexible ultra-thin glass, which offers advantages over plastic as a substrate due to its excellent barrier properties. Some of the technologies were researched as part of the internationalization project between Japan and Germany associated with LAOLA with cooperation partners from the Japanese partner cluster YUFIC at Yamagata University. In particular, the establishment of flexible ultra-thin glass as a substrate was advanced here. In order to consider suitable applications in addition to technological developments, WOLFRAM Designers and Engineers (WDI) worked out a concrete area of application for OLED on ultra-thin glass. This was implemented in the form of a surgical light, which combines large OLED luminous surfaces with LED spotlights in its shape design. The OLEDs are installed as wing elements and provide indirect, glare-free illumination, while the LED spotlights enable direct illumination. German-Japanese cooperation for expertise on ultra-thin glass technologies A number of other partners collaborated to produce the actual OLED on ultra-thin glass. The beginning of this value chain is Nippon Electric Glass Co., Ltd. (NEG) as a manufacturer of ultra-thin glass rolls. At Yamagata University a transparent conductive oxide (TCO) was deposited n the ultra-thin glass with a width of 300 millimeters for further processing as the anode material for the OLED. However, the sheet resistance of ~30 ohms per square meter is not sufficient to homogeneously illuminate the entire luminous area of 206 × max. 95 mm². To solve this, thin gain lines were printed. This was done on a roll-to-roll screen printing system at Yamagata University in collaboration with the company SERIA ENGINEERING, INC. (roll-to-roll screen printing process) and Fujikura Kasei Co., Ltd. (printing paste manufacturer). New technologies for evaporation, cutting, and structuring processes "Ensuring the long-term stability of the OLED devices and the hygienic surface of the luminaire played a key role in the selection of ultra-thin glass as a substrate," explains Dr. Jacqueline Hauptmann, a scientist at Fraunhofer FEP. "One focus of the project was the retrofit of an existing roll-to-roll vacuum coating system at Fraunhofer FEP to easily wind, coat, and encapsulate pure ultra-thin glass of 50 and 100 micrometers thickness with strip tensions in the range of 30 – 50 newtons. The retrofit of the plant was successfully carried out by the company FHR Anlagenbau GmbH." For the deposition of thin metal layers in a roll-to-roll process for anode and cathode coating, the metal evaporator was converted by the project partner CREAVAC-Creative Vakuumbeschichtung GmbH. This allowed calcium and silver to be evaporated simultaneously to achieve transparent layers of 8 nanometers thickness (calcium/silver ratio 1:7) over a width of 290 millimeters with a layer thickness variation of ~1%. The necessary laser cutting and structuring processes for the separation and interconnection of the OLEDs proved to be a further challenge. Together with the project partner Heliatek GmbH, an alternative structuring method was developed that has enormous potential for subsequently structuring already completed devices with low particle counts. For this purpose, the anode, which is covered with printed passivation, is lasered through the ultra-thin glass. Furthermore, the use of thermally evaporated melamine was validated in the project and advanced with the project partners Creaphys GmbH and Heliatek GmbH. Both technologies have enormous potential for use in new fields of application in flexible organic electronics. Results ready for technology transfer to industry The final separation of the OLED could be successfully developed within the project with the project partner 3D-Micromac AG. With the help of a laser-equipped with Bessel optics1, the so-called filamentation of the ultra-thin glass on both sides on the substrate and encapsulation side and subsequent mechanical separation of the adhesive could be demonstrated. Cutting speeds of 400 millimeters per second were achieved. From the project partner Tesa SE, different adhesive tapes for encapsulation in the thin glass laminate, also with water trap components, were tested and the cut glasses and glass-adhesive-glass laminates were examined for mechanical strength. A flexible stainless steel film from NIPPON STEEL Chemical & Material CO., LTD was tested for the encapsulation of opaque OLED devices. The 30-micrometer thin film can be processed very well by the roll-to-roll method and holds prospects of being a promising alternative to ultra-thin glass encapsulation due to its more favorable temperature management. The separation of the glass-adhesive-stainless steel OLED was carried out here by Mitsuboshi Diamond Industrial Co, Ltd (MDI)2. In addition to project coordination, Organic Electronics Management GmbH has prepared a market study for the lead applications developed by WDI, as well as a manufacturing concept, paving the way for technology transfer by the partners. Dr. Jonas Jung, project manager at OES, says: "By applying innovative production technologies across all partners, a promising OLED demonstrator has been developed, opening up new application possibilities for flexible electronics. This great result of the LAOLA project underlines the innovative power of the long-standing German-Japanese collaboration." The results obtained in the three-year LAOLA project (2018 – 2021) can be directly transferred to other existing roll-to-roll tape lines. The successful separation of OLED modules from the bonded glass-glass composite, which was in a rolled-up state after processing, can also be easily transferred in the future. We thank the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) for the support in the LAOLA project (Large-area OLED lighting applications on thin flexible substrates, funding code 03INT509A), as well as all German and Japanese project partners. 1 White paper: „Optimized Laser Cutting Processes and System Solutions for Separation of Ultra-Thin Glass for OLED Lighting and Display Applications “, René Liebers 2 „Roll-to-Roll Fabrication for OLED Lighting Using Ultra-Thin Glass Substrate and Encapsulating Stainless Steel Foil” - Tadahiro Furukawa, Jacqueline Hauptmann et.al., IDW’21, FLX5/FMC6-1 2021 More information: https://www.fep.fraunhofer.de/en/press_media/01_2022.html

and process monitoring Speaker: Thomas Kolbusch | Company: COATEMA Coating Machinery GmbH| Date: 11-12 May 2021 | Full Presentation Coatema delivered a pilot line in 2012 to the University of Thessaloniki in Greece. (Auth). Since them there had been a continuous scale up of the system with the integration of different quality control systems like inline spectroscopy and others. In a new European project called Real Nano additional quality control systems are being installed. The talk describes the used systems, the influence of the different parameters like coating, drying, tension control and others. Thomas Kolbusch Vice President @ Coatema® Coating Machinery GmbH Bio Thomas Kolbusch is Vice President of Coatema Coating Machinery GmbH, an equipment manufacturing company for coating, printing and laminating solutions located in Dormagen, Germany. He is member of the board of the OE-A (Organic Electronic Association) in Germany, a global association for printed electronics. He serves in the advisory board of Fraunhofer ITA institute. He served as member of the board of COPT.NRW, a local association in Germany, as well as exhibition chair of the LOPEC in Munich for five years. Thomas is active in the field of fuel cells, batteries, printed electronics, photovoltaics and medical applications. He organizes the international Coatema Coating Symposium for over 19 years and represents Coatema in a number of public funded German and European projects. Thomas Kolbusch studied Business Economics at the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences and got his degree as business economist in 1997. He started his career at 3M, Germany. Since 1999 he is working for Coatema Coating Machinery in different positions. Join TechBlick on an annual pass to join all live online conference or online version of onsite conference access library of on-demand talks (600 talks + PDFs) portfolio of expert led masterclass year-round platform https://www.techblick.com/ And do NOT miss our flagship event in Berlin on 17-18 OCT 2023 focused on Reshaping the Future of Electronics. This event attracts 550-600 participants from all the world and offers a superb ambience and dynamic exhibition floor. To learn more visit https://www.techblick.com/electronicsreshaped To see feedback about previous event see https://www.techblick.com/events-agenda

Fiber batteries are millimeter-thin batteries based on fibers that can be woven into items of clothing or used to create highly flexible, wearable electronics. In recent years, many research teams worldwide have been trying to fabricate these batteries, using a range of different techniques and approaches. Most existing techniques for creating fiber batteries entail layer-by-layer coating processes that were adapted from the fabrication of planar batteries, a flat and thin battery technology. Despite their advantages, these processes typically enable the creation of a limited number of batteries at a time, thus they are unsuited for large-scale production. Researchers at Fudan University in China have recently introduced an alternative method for manufacturing fiber batteries that could be easier to implement on an industrial scale. This method, introduced in a paper published in Nature Nanotechnology, is based on a general, solution-extrusion technique that can produce batches of several fiber batteries in a single step. The production method proposed by the researchers relies on a spinneret structure, a cap or plate with several small holes on it that is often used to produce fibers. This structure, which has three main extrusion channels, can be used to create fiber batteries composed of a parallel cathode and anode, encapsulated by an electrolyte, with remarkable production rates of 250 m h-1. "Our three-channel industrial spinneret simultaneously extrudes and combines the electrodes and electrolytes of fiber batteries at high production rates," Meng Liao and his colleagues explained in their paper. "The laminar flow between functional components guarantees their seamless interfaces during extrusion." Compared to existing methods for producing fiber batteries, the researchers' approach can yield a remarkable 1,500 km of continuous fiber batteries for each individual spinneret unit used. This is over three times more batteries than those produced by the best-performing techniques developed so far. In their paper, Liao and his colleagues demonstrated the high potential of their method by using it to create roughly 10 m2 of fiber battery-based woven textiles. These textiles were specifically designed to be used to create smart and responsive tents and the fiber battery used to power them had an energy density of 550mWhm-2. The smart tent they designed has several interesting and advanced features. For instance, it can harvest energy from the sun, store it, and use it to control a display and other technologies inside it. In the future, the battery production method introduced by the researchers could be used to create similar tents or other textile-based electronics on a large scale, potentially facilitating their widespread use. "Our method is straightforward, and the flexible textile battery obtained is stable, durable, and safe," Liao and his colleagues wrote in their paper. "We anticipate that it will promote large-scale production and practical applications of fiber batteries for the next-generation electronics." More information: https://phys.org/news/2022-02-method-fiber-batteries-industrial-scale.html

Québec City, Québec, Canada and Westwood, MA, USA - Brilliant Matters and Nano-C are pleased to announce they signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to pursue the development of advanced materials for high-performance and cost-effective printed organic solar cells and photodetectors. These technologies are part of a new wave of electronic and energy-production devices that are mainly made of plastics and contain no toxic materials or rare earths. As the integration of electronic components in everyday objects is on the rise, these technologies could offer enormous environmental benefits, being far less impactful when produced, and at the end of the product’s life. Both companies have collaborated in the past and offer complementary solutions and technologies that can work together to achieve their cost and performance targets, with Brilliant Matters producing high performance p-type polymers and Nano-C making unique n-type semiconducting carbon materials. When combined, these novel semiconducting materials create a photoactive layer that can convert light into electricity efficiently. And, a key benefit is that unlike commercially available technologies, both semiconductors are deposited simultaneously from a single ink solution and require no further doping. Brilliant Matters’ CEO, Jean-Rémi Pouliot states “we are very excited to be collaborating with Nano-C on next generation products in organic printed electronics. I truly believe with our combined expertise we will be able to make an impact in the industry by introducing higher performing materials at an affordable price.” Nano-C’s Director of Business Development, Kerin Perez Harwood said “a key aspect of the Nano-C business model hinges on strong partnerships with key players in the industry and customers. We believe our partnership with Brilliant Matters will result in advanced materials solutions that address key market and technical needs required to drive organic electronics to mass production.” Brilliant Matters and Nano-C have an aligned vision to create clean technologies at an affordable price. This relationship is the first step the companies make together in their foray to create sustainable electronics, and we hope this agreement will lead to solutions that will benefit the entire printed electronics market. About Nano-C Nano-C is a leading innovator and manufacturer of nanostructured carbon materials, including fullerenes, carbon nanotubes (CNT), as well as their chemical derivatives and formulations. Proprietary materials produced by Nano-C are critical links in the value chain for next-generation electronics, sensors, semiconductor manufacturing, and therapeutics. Nano-C’s advanced materials and molecular platform encompasses a portfolio of unique solutions protected by over 215 global patents spanning methods of manufacturing to end-use applications. Through its patented products and processes, and its distinct competencies in the chemistry of these materials, Nano-C is enabling a revolution in device design, manufacture, and performance, and it is committed to their responsible development and use. For more information on Nano-C, Inc. please visit our website www.nano-c.com, follow us on LinkedIn, or email us at nanocinfo@nano-c.com. About Brilliant Matters Brilliant Matters is an innovator in chemical processes used to create and produce advanced materials for emerging printed electronics technologies. They specialize in organic semiconducting materials, an alternative technology that can be used to create environmentally friendly electronics. Their proprietary process offers the most reliable and scalable way to supply an industry with these materials. Their products offer an alternative solution to existing electronics that can truly be part of a sustainable future. Their materials are high-performing, reliable and scalable, and can be used in a variety of applications, including solar cells, sensors, transistors, and more. They offer performance materials, contract manufacturing services and contract research services for the printed and organic electronics industry. Their outstanding team of material science experts help their partners to overcome barriers and quickly become industry leaders in the world of printed and organic electronics.www.Brilliantmatters.com

The company is decoding performance with sweat-reading biowearables. Digital health startup Epicore Biosystems, makers of noninvasive biowearables, secured $10M in an oversubscribed Series A round. Its microfluidic (aka sweat-analyzing) patch is capable of measuring hydration, stress, and blood glucose levels — attracting a range of industries where performance is everything. A Performance Patch In partnership with PepsiCo’s Gatorade, the company’s Gx Sweat Patch launched in March 2021. The small, sensor-packed sticker is applied to an exerciser’s forearm, providing real-time hydration recommendations via a smartphone app for optimal athletic performance and refueling — a focus area for the beverage market at large. Its FDA-approved Discovery Patch System goes a step further, reading biomarkers in sweat to reveal personalized insights on stress and glucose levels, in addition to hydration needs. Now, this ability to monitor and manage performance is gaining steam beyond athletics. This latest funding round saw participation from Alumni Ventures, Joyance Partners, and, notably, Chevron Technology Ventures, who wrapped up a field study for monitoring heat stress in oilfield workers this past May. Early adopters also include the US Air Force, US Army, and National Institutes of Health, signaling broad applicability in human performance. Sweat is Data The next generation of health wearables is upon us, taking all sorts of form factors — rings, contact lenses, apparel, and rapid development of skin patches. With experts predicting the market for electronic patches to reach $18B by 2027, developers in sweat tech are emerging: Both UCSD and Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology are developing patches that continuously track blood pressure and heart rate while monitoring glucose, caffeine, and alcohol levels. In November 2021, Biolinq secured $100M for its glucose-monitoring skin patch. FLOWBIO, creators of a biowearable patch that detects electrolyte and fluid loss in real-time, is launching a closed beta in 2022. In a Q&A with Fitt Insider, FLOWBIO co-founder Stefan van der Fluit suggests that “sweat is data,” unlocking possibilities in endurance sports and beyond: “We chose sweat as our bodily fluid of choice as sweat glands are nature’s ‘built-in’ needle — and sweat, in layman’s terms, can be seen as a heavily diluted proxy of blood.” Punchline: Starting with pro athletes and the military, Epicore is proving its efficacy for the everyday wearer. As sweat tech improves, the use cases will only multiply. From diabetes care to hydration to metabolic health, the future of wearables is trending toward invisible sensors. More information: https://insider.fitt.co/epicore-biosystems-creators-of-the-gx-sweat-patch-raises-10m/

America’s growing demand for electric vehicles (EVs) has shed light on the significant challenge of sustainably sourcing the battery technology necessary for the broad shift to renewable electricity and away from fossil fuels. In hopes of making batteries that not only perform better than those currently used in EVs but also are made from readily available materials, a group of Drexel University chemical engineers have found a way to introduce sulfur into lithium-ion batteries – with astounding results. With global sales of EVs more than doubling in 2021, prices of battery materials like lithium, nickel, manganese, and cobalt surged and supply chains for these raw materials, most of which are sourced from other countries, became bottlenecked due to the pandemic. This also focused attention on the primary providers of the raw materials: countries like Congo and China; and raised questions about the human and environmental impact of extracting them from the earth. Well before the EV surge and battery material shortage, developing a commercially viable sulfur battery has been the battery industry’s sustainable, high-performing white whale. This is because of sulfur’s natural abundance and chemical structure that would allow it to store more energy. A recent breakthrough by researchers in Drexel’s College of Engineering, published in the journal Communications Chemistry, provides a way to sidestep the obstacles that have subdued Li-S batteries in the past, finally pulling the sought-after technology within commercial reach. Their discovery is a new way of producing and stabilizing a rare form of sulfur that functions in carbonate electrolyte — the energy-transport liquid used in commercial Li-ion batteries. This development would not only make sulfur batteries commercially viable, but they would have three times the capacity of Li-ion batteries and last more than 4,000 recharges – the equivalent of 10 years of use, which is also a substantial improvement. “Sulfur has been highly desirable for use in batteries for a number of years because it is earth-abundant and can be collected in a way that is safe and environmentally friendly, and as we have now demonstrated, it also has the potential to improve the performance of batteries in electric vehicles and mobile devices in a commercially viable way,” said Drexel’s Vibha Kalra, Ph.D., George B. Francis Chair professor in the College’s Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, who led the research. The challenge of introducing sulfur into a lithium battery with a commercially friendly carbonate electrolyte has been an irreversible chemical reaction between intermediate sulfur products, called polysulfides, and the carbonate electrolyte. Because of this adverse reaction, previous attempts to use a sulfur cathode in a battery with a carbonate electrolyte solution resulted in nearly immediate shutdown and a complete failure of the battery after just one cycle. Li-S batteries have already demonstrated exceptional performance in experimental settings using an ether electrolyte — rather than carbonate — because ether does not react with polysulfides. But these batteries would not be commercially viable because the ether electrolyte is highly volatile and has components with a boiling point as low as 42 degrees Celsius, meaning any warming of the battery above room temperature could cause a failure or meltdown. “In the past decade, the majority of Li-S field adopted ether electrolytes to avoid the adverse reactions with carbonate,” Kalra said. “Then over the years, the researchers deep-dived into enhancing performances in ether-based sulfur batteries by mitigating what is known as polysulfide shuttle/diffusion — but the field completely overlooked the fact that the ether electrolyte itself is a problem. In our work, the primary objective was to replace ether with carbonate, but in doing so we also eliminated polysulfides, which also meant no shuttling, so the battery could perform exceptionally well through thousands of cycles.” Previous research by Kalra’s team also approached the problem in this way – producing a carbon nanofiber cathode that slowed the shuttle effect in ether-based Li-S batteries by curtailing the movement of intermediate polysulfides. But to improve the commercial path of the cathodes, the group realized it needed to make them function with a commercially viable electrolyte. “Having a cathode that works with the carbonate electrolyte that they’re already using is the path of least resistance for commercial manufacturers,” Kalra said. “So rather than pushing for the industry adoption of a new electrolyte, our goal was to make a cathode that could work in the pre-existing Li-ion electrolyte system.” So, in hopes of eliminating polysulfide formation to avoid adverse reactions, the team attempted to confine sulfur in the carbon nanofiber cathode substrate using a vapor deposition technique. While this process did not succeed in embedding the sulfur within the nanofiber mesh, it did something extraordinary, which revealed itself when the team began to test the cathode. “As we began the test, it started running beautifully – something we did not expect. In fact, we tested it over and over again – more than 100 times — to ensure we were really seeing what we thought we were seeing,” Kalra said. “The sulfur cathode, which we suspected would cause the reaction to grind to a halt, actually performed amazingly well and it did so again and again without causing shuttling.” Upon further investigation, the team found that during the process of depositing sulfur on the carbon nanofiber surface — changing it from a gas to a solid — it crystallized in an unexpected way, forming a slight variation of the element, called monoclinic gamma-phase sulfur. This chemical phase of sulfur, which is not reactive with the carbonate electrolyte, had previously only been created at high temperatures in labs and has only been observed in nature in the extreme environment of oil wells. “At first, it was hard to believe that this is what we were detecting because in all previous research monoclinic sulfur has been unstable under 95 degrees Celsius,” said Rahul Pai, a doctoral student in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and coauthor of the research. “In the last century there have only been a handful of studies that produced monoclinic gamma sulfur and it has only been stable for 20-30 minutes at most. But we had created it in a cathode that was undergoing thousands of charge-discharge cycles without diminished performance — and a year later, our examination of it shows that the chemical phase has remained the same.” After more than a year of testing, the sulfur cathode remains stable and, as the team reported, its performance has not degraded in 4,000 charge-discharge cycles, which is equivalent to 10 years of regular use. And, as predicted, the battery’s capacity is more than three-fold that of a Li-ion battery. “While we are still working to understand the exact mechanism behind the creation of this stable monoclinic sulfur at room temperature, this remains an exciting discovery and one that could open a number of doors for developing more sustainable and affordable battery technology,” Kalra said. Replacing the cathode in Li-ion batteries with a sulfur one would alleviate the need for sourcing cobalt, nickel, and manganese. Supplies of these raw materials are limited and not easily extracted without causing health and environmental hazards. Sulfur, on the other hand, is found everywhere in the world and exists in vast quantities in the United States because it is a waste product of petroleum production. Kalra suggests that having a stable sulfur cathode, that functions in carbonate electrolyte, will also allow researchers to move forward in examining replacements for the lithium anode – which could include more earth-abundant options, like sodium. “Getting away from a dependence on lithium and other materials that are expensive and difficult to extract from the earth is a vital step for the development of batteries and expanding our ability to use renewable energy sources,” Kalra said. “Developing a viable Li-S battery opens a number of pathways to replacing these materials.” More information: https://drexel.edu/now/archive/2022/February/lithium-sulfur-cathode-carbonate-electrolyte/