Konarka Technologies, Inc., a company developing and commercializing power plastics that convert light to energy, and Leonard Kurz GmbH & CO.KG, a leader in the research, development and manufacture of polymer electronic technology, have established a non-exclusive partnership in support of light-activated power plastic.
The companies are engaged in a multi-year, multi-phase collaboration to accelerate the development of Konarka’s organic photovoltaic technology. KURZ has committed significant capital, equipment and resources to the joint activities.
Howard Berke, chairman and chief executive officer, Konarka, said, “KURZ is a world leader in innovative printed materials, and this relationship enhances Konarka’s ability to take its organic photovoltaic program beyond the laboratory and into development for manufacturing and production scale-up. With this partnership, we are continuing to execute on our strategy to partner with leading global companies who can print power plastic at very high volumes.”
KURZ has expertise in printing and coating films and foils for a wide assortment of products, including packaging, electronic devices, security applications, automotive parts, household appliances, cosmetics, textiles, furniture and greeting cards, and manufacturing capabilities in Europe, North America and Asia. Konarka’s power plastic, which is made by printing conducting polymers and nano-engineered materials onto plastic, can integrate easily into devices, systems and structures to provide them with their own renewable power generation capabilities. During this program, Konarka and KURZ will focus their efforts on research and development, manufacturing process engineering and production scale-up for the printed photovoltaics.
“Integrating Konarka’s power plastic into our products will enable us to extend and enhance their functionality. Our customers will gain value, such as increased levels of convenience and freedom of use, without affecting the products’ overall weight or size. In the longer term, the possibility of printing large format solar modules is intriguing in that it could potentially alter the current economics by driving costs down,” said Werner Reinhart, vice president, KURZ. “We may even be able to increase the benefits of power plastic by leveraging the optical competence we gained with our OVD Kinegram AG acquisition.”
Randolph Chan, executive vice president, joint program development, Konarka, concluded, “KURZ has decades of experience with roll-to-roll printing and recently has made successful inroads into printing polymer electronics with the PolyIC venture with Siemens. The merger of our organic photovoltaic program and KURZ’s complementary manufacturing know-how will result in new ways to transform energy consuming applications into power generators.”
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