Cambridge Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic announce strategic partnership
Cambridge, UK – 26th June 2013 – Cambridge University’s Graphene Centre and Plastic Logic have signed a formal collaboration agreement, marking Plastic Logic joining the Centre to start work on a specific research programme, aimed ultimately at revolutionising the commercial exploitation of graphene in flexible plastic electronics, where the UK enjoys a world-leading position.
Plastic Logic has donated large scale deposition equipment to the Centre to support the acceleration of manufacturing scale-up of developments on graphene. The research programme will initially have three main project activities:
· To develop graphene as a transparent, highly conductive layer for plastic backplanes, used to drive unbreakable Liquid Crystal Displays (LCD) and flexible Organic Light Emitting Diode (OLED) displays; a market forecast to be worth $40bn by 2020 (IHS 2013).
· To develop novel transistor structures with graphene-like materials as the active layer, delivering a step change over the device performance currently possible on plastic, while retaining the ultimate flexibility of the devices.
· Leverage Plastic Logic’s expertise in the industrialization and volume manufacture of electronics on plastic, exploiting the commercialisation of graphene for flexible electronics. This will include key high value segments in the developing new market for flexible plastic sensors, forecast to be worth $2.2bn overall in 2020 (IDTechEx 2011).
Cambridge Graphene Centre’s Director, Professor Andrea C. Ferrari, stated: “The mission of our Centre is to investigate the science and technology of graphene, carbon allotropes, layered crystals and hybrid nanomaterials. This engineering innovation centre allows our partners to meet, and effectively establish joint industrial-academic activities to promote innovative and adventurous research with an emphasis on applications. We welcome Plastic Logic as one of our strategic partners. Graphene and related materials are ideally suited for applications in flexible electronics, and this strong synergy with a world-leading Cambridge-based company can accelerate exploitation.”
Indro Mukerjee, CEO Plastic Logic said: “I am delighted that Plastic Logic is working with the world class team at the Cambridge Graphene Centre on this transformational research programme for the application of graphene in our flexible plastic electronics process. This will enable higher levels of customisation and drive a step change in technology performance, opening up new commercial applications, such as the huge potential market for large area distributed sensors.”
About Cambridge Graphene Centre
The Mission of the Cambridge Graphene Centre is to investigate the science and technology of graphene, carbon allotropes, layered crystals and hybrid nanomaterials. This engineering innovation centre allows our partners to meet, and effectively establish joint industrial-academic activities to promote innovative and adventurous research with an emphasis on applications.
The facilities and equipment have been selected to promote alignment with industry, by filling two main vacuums. The first is the lack of intermediate scale printing and processing systems where the industrial upscale and optimization of inks based on graphene, related carbon nanomaterials, and novel two dimensional crystals can be tested and optimized. The second vacuum stems from the challenge posed by the unique properties of graphene: the centre facilities aim to fully cover those properties necessary to achieve the goal of “graphene-augmented” smart integrated devices on flexible/transparent substrates, with the necessary energy storage capability to work autonomously and wireless connected.
Find more on Cambridge Graphene Centre by visiting www.graphene.cam.ac.uk
Companies interested in working together with Cambridge Graphene Centre should contact
Shelley Hogg admin@graphene.cam.ac.uk
About Plastic Logic
Plastic Logic is the recognised leader in organic thin-film transistors and has been at the forefront of research and investment into plastic electronics since the company was founded by researchers from the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge University. The company has industrialised the process and now manufactures high-quality flexible plastic displays (colour and monochrome) of various sizes. These unbreakable daylight readable displays are conformal, thin and lightweight with low battery consumption, offering huge advantages over conventional screens as they are extremely flexible with proven lifetimes of over five years and more than 10 million page updates. Flexible, bendable displays enable revolutionary design possibilities and are set to transform existing markets, such as signage, wristwatches and wearable devices, automotive as well as many others. Plastic Logic is backed by major investors including Oak Investment Partners and Rusnano.
Find out more about Plastic Logic and its robust, flexible displays by visiting http://www.plasticlogic.com and http://www.youtube.com/plasticlogic
Companies interested in working together with Plastic Logic should contact info@plasticlogic.com
