Report identifies printed battery market potential

A report entitled ‘Printed Battery Markets: 2009 and Beyond’, recently released by US-based industry analyst NanoMarkets, offers some mixed perspectives about printed batteries, stating that it is a viable technology; but the ‘killer application’ for printed battery technology a few years back — RFID — hasn’t materialised because of printed RFID's slower-than-anticipated market acceptance.

Emerging now as the real potential for printed batteries is powered smart cards which are an increasingly important technology for the credit card industry and consumers. Being able to integrate the power source in the production of smart cards is extremely attractive for manufacturers.

The story of printed batteries is about what the technology can enable. By 2015, sales of products that utilise printed batteries will total US$1.5 billion in revenues, with the value of the batteries themselves amounting to more than $200 million. While this should be seen as encouraging, NanoMarkets believes that more printed battery firms will have to follow the lead of Power Paper and look to develop applications for their batteries, rather than just produce the batteries themselves since remaining as a battery supplier will likely spell the demise of many firms. This strategy will offer potentially bigger markets for printed batteries manufacturers to tap into, but it also means a potentially significant shift in the focus of the business models.