The document is a presentation by NanoMarkets analyzing thin-film and printable battery technologies and markets. It defines thin-film and printable batteries, discusses new directions in battery chemistries including lithium polymer batteries, and analyzes key applications and forecasts. It also outlines strategic options for thin-film battery suppliers, concluding the market could grow to $1.9 billion by 2017 with opportunities in smart cards and sensors.

1. Thin-Film Batteries:
Technologies and Markets
Prepared for the 10th Flexible Electronics and Displays Conference and Exhibition
February 2011
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About NanoMarkets LC
• NanoMarkets provides industry analysis of emerging markets in
energy and electronics enabled by new developments in
materials science. We have been covering thin-film and
printable battery markets for five years
• Our work includes market, company and technology analysis,
market forecasting and due diligence. NanoMarkets provides an
updated forecast and analysis for the thin-film and printable
battery market annually. We also cover supercapacitors
• Offerings include reports, custom consulting, seminars/webinars
and in-house training. NanoMarkets is based in U.S., with
extensive contacts all over the world
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Questions Answered in Today’s Presentation
• How are thin-film and printable batteries different?
• New directions for thin-film battery chemistries
• Key applications and forecasts for thin-film batteries
• Strategic options for suppliers of thin-film batteries
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Some Definitions
• Thin-film (TF) batteries. Solid-state batteries manufactured
using standard semiconductor industry deposition and
patterning techniques. Closely related to -- and sometimes
confused with – printed batteries
• TF batteries could be printed, but usually printed batteries
have printed electrodes and a liquid electrolyte. TF batteries
use a solid electrolyte laid down in the same way as the other
layers of the battery. Typically the solid electrolyte is a
material developed at Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL)
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“Thin-Film” Versus “Printable” Batteries
• TF batteries are mostly based on lithium chemistry, although
there are variations on this that are being developed
• By contrast, printable batteries use mostly zinc-manganese
dioxide chemistry, although Blue Spark Technologies, uses
carbon-zinc chemistry
• There are also attempts underway to print lithium batteries,
which perhaps points the way to a day in where solid-state
and printable batteries are one and the same
• For the most part TF and printable batteries have the same
addressable markets
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Thin-Film Lithium Battery Chemistries
Anode Cathode Electrolyte
Lithium manganese Lithium metal Manganese Organic
dioxide dioxide
Lithium phosphorus Lithium metal Lithium cobalt Lithium
oxynitride oxide (LiCoO2) phosphorus
oxynitride ceramic
Lithium thionyl Lithium metal Porous carbon Porous carbon
chloride filled with liquid filled with liquid
thionyl chloride thionyl chloride
acts as cathode
and electrolyte
Lithium oxygen Lithium Atmospheric
(typically with oxygen
another metal)
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New Directions in Battery Chemistries
• NanoMarkets sees opportunities in improving TF battery
electrolytes. The standard ORNL electrolyte is deposited
using sputtering and thermal evaporation—a complex,
expensive, and difficult to scale to high volumes process
• A different approach, one that is being taken by Solicore, is
the use of lithium as the anode, manganese dioxide as the
cathode, and a coatable polymer matrix electrolyte
• Other difference occur in the substrate: Cymbet and Oak
Ridge Micro-Energy use ceramic wafers; Infinite Power
Solutions uses metal foil and Excellatron uses a polymer such
as Kapton or sandwiches the cells between packaging foils
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Lithium Polymer Batteries
• Lithium polymer batteries (Li-poly or LiPo) are rechargeable
batteries that have technologically evolved from lithium-ion
batteries. The lithium-salt electrolyte is held in a solid polymer
composite such as polyacrylonitrile or polyethylene oxide
• Because there is no battery casing required, a lithium polymer
battery can be lighter than a regular lithium battery and it can
also be shaped to fit the device it will power
• In addition, it offers denser packaging, which results in an
energy density for Li-poly batteries that is over 20 percent
higher than that of a classic Li-ion battery
• Two firms developing thin-film batteries based on this
chemistry are Solicore and Ultralife
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RFID and TF batteries . . . a disappointment
• TF battery makers have claimed that existing RFID battery solutions
cannot reached the cost points necessary for high volume deployment of
active tags. For widespread use of RFIDs a thin and possibly fully printable
solution would seem to be necessary
• But progress has been slow and in many cases active tags are attached to
large crates or cartons and “thinness” is not necessarily a huge advantage.
Printability for RFID is happening slowly
• RFIDs are not being abandoned as a target market by the TF/printable
battery firms, but these firms are refocusing on more immediate
prospects. Potential for $155 million in RFID battery sales in 2016
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Smart Cards . . . a savior for TF batteries?
• Strong case for smartcards that include a display for one-time password (OTP)
defense against misuse and ID theft. Cards may also incorporate light and
sound. Will probably require batteries not inductive fields for power, but
batteries must be thin and flexible. Blue Spark’s batteries are being pitched
toward this market on the grounds that it is the industry’s thinnest battery
• A lot of printing goes into making a smartcard so there may be a tendency to
choose a printable battery for these products. But TF batteries may better
withstand high-temperature lamination Solicore has a patent on battery that
can withstand this heat during a lamination process
• Smartcards, both powered or not powered, may get a boost from the trend
toward e-passports and the enthusiasm for national ID cards in some
countries. Some ID card concepts include financial transaction verification; a
battery-powered card might prove useful here. Potential for $483 million in
smartcard battery sales in 2016
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Sensors . . . a diverse opportunity ?
• The sensor business is very large and very diverse in terms of product
types, suppliers and users. This is an issue for any firms selling into the
sensor business
• Also, most sensors do not need small form factor batteries. However,
there are important exceptions:
– Flexible sensor arrays for medical and military applications
– Sensors mart packaging
• Solid-state batteries may have uses in harsh environments (such as oil rigs,
or even automotive)
• Potential for $559 million in sensor battery sales in 2016
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Strategic Options for TF Battery Makers
• Improved performance: Improve battery performance in an incremental
manner, e.g. longer lifetimes, or longer times between charging. But
unless the performance improvements are big leaps forward, they are
unlikely to provide battery suppliers with large competitive advantages
• Adding value: Low volumes, so firms need strategies to generate
revenues. Can move up the value chain and make products incorporating
batteries, e.g. Power Paper (cosmetic patch/OLED lights) and Cymbet
(energy harvesting). More revenues/builds credibility for TF batteries
• Powering disposable electronics: Target applications “where the
requirements already meet the (low) performance of the products.” May
get you to mass markets in a short period of time. But finding those
products can be difficult, volumes of toys and games are often low.
• Batteries for high-end products: Mostly this means medical and military
markets. May involve novel technologies (Biophan)
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Some Conclusions
• This sector has been a technology chasing after a market to serve. But this
seems to be changing and some firms in this space (Cymbet, IPS, Power
Paper, Solicore) have received substantial investments
• The use of TF batteries seems to fit with megatrends in medicine and
computing. The market will be under $100 million this year, but could be as
high as $1.9 billion by 2017, with smartcards and sensors being especially
important to growth
• A number of strategies are possible to extract this value from the market,
but merely improving on performance in incremental ways seems unlikely to
be productive. Better strategies are moving up the value chain, or focusing
on particular market niches
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Lawrence Gasman
Lawrence Gasman is the Principal Analyst at NanoMarkets and heads up NanoMarkets’ OLED
lighting industry research program. Mr. Gasman has been an industry analyst in the
optoelectronics space for 25 years and his consulting clients have included (among many others)
Analog Devices, Cabot, Hewlett-Packard, Honeywell, IBM, Intel, NEC, and Panasonic, as well as a
large number of high-tech start-ups and investment firms. Mr. Gasman’s work has been carried
out in Asia, Europe and North America.
Mr. Gasman has been quoted in a wide range of trade publications as well as The Wall Street
Journal and Investor’s Business Daily, Business 2.0, Red Herring and Small Times. In addition to
his work in the optoelectronics industry, he has also written widely on telecommunications and IT
and has authored three books in that area, as well as testifying to Congress on the future of the
FCC. He is a member of the IEEE, and a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, a leading Washington,
D.C. “think tank.”
Mr. Gasman’s latest book is on the commercialization of nanotechnology for Artech House and he
has been a speaker at many conferences on printable and organic electronics and nanotech-
nology, including Lighting Japan, the Optical Semiconductor Conference (OSC) and the annual
Plastic Electronic Foundation (PEF) conference. Mr. Gasman holds a mathematics degree from
the University of Manchester and advanced degrees from the London School Of Economics and
the London Business School.
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Contact
NanoMarkets, LC
info@nanomarkets.net
www.nanomarkets.net
Phone: 804-360-2967
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