treeves's Journal: Polymer Electronics

Second-generation printed electronics have arrived and their impact on society will be immense. A major new industry is born. Transparent solar cells will be on watches by year end and vast areas of printed flexible photovoltaics will be available within the next few years. Polymer alternatives will have lower efficiency but often be lower in cost.
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Light emitting moving color displays, vehicle and room lighting on flexible substrates, the electronic book and many forms of disposable electronics are near to mass rollout.

Some new versions are flexible and use printed polymer thin film transistor circuits (TFTC) from Plastic Logic as back plane drivers. Working samples of these have been widely available in 2006. None of them require a voltage to retain the image.

This year saw smart drug packs with printed sensors and sometimes printed batteries. These have unique electronic identification and they record which pill was removed when, because 50 percent of patients take their medication incorrectly. Initially they are being used to improve drug trials such as the National Institute of Health trial of Azithromycin and a Novartis trial this year. We already have flexible, electroluminescent color displays from billboards to animated watch backgrounds.