Exeger Operations AB
 | The topic of this article may not meet Wikitia's general notability guideline. |
Formerly | NLAB Solar |
|---|---|
| ISIN | SE0012506905 |
| Industry | Solar cell technology |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Stockholm , Sweden |
| Brands | Powerfoyle |
| Total assets | SEKm 974,3 |
Number of employees | 178 (2022) |
| Website | https://www.exeger.com/ |
Exeger Operations AB is a Swedish green technology company active in solar cell technology. It's owned by Exeger Sweden AB (96.39 %) and SoftBank Group (3,61 %). It's located in Stockholm, Sweden. It has subsidiries in the Netherlands and in Hongkong.
Exeger works with research and development of solar cells, and manufactures dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC or DSC) products based on Grätzel cell technology. Exeger owns 230 global patents.[1]
The company engages solely in business-to-business sales. Powerfoyle solar cells can be integrated with products from other manufacturers of products for InternetOfThings, smart homes as well as in consumer electronics like speakers, headphones, remote controls etc.
EKN, The Swedish Export Credit Agency, an authority with the task of promoting Swedish exports, has supported Exeger on several occasions.[2]
Funding and loans
Previous fundings include investments from Fortum[3] (2016), Softbank (2019), AMF - Sweden's third biggest pension fund (2019)[4], Swedbank (2021).[5][6][7] and Italian insurance company Generali (2023).[1] In Q2 2021 Exeger received a loan from Swedish Export Credit Corporation.[8]
Business acquisitions
In 2021 Exeger invested in MAYHT, which was later sold. Its subsidiry Intivation was acquired in 2021.
Technology
Powerfoyle harvest all forms of light, both artificial and natural light, to charge and power devices with clean, endless energy. Its solar cell technology can convert all forms of light into electrical power, even light from indoor lighting.
The photovoltaic material Powerfoyle solar cell is thin, as little as 1,3 mm. It has no silver conductors. It has an electrode material with 1000x higher conductivity than the standard (ITO).
The texture of the solar cells can be bended.
Its printed solar cell film is being used to power everyday self-charging electronic devices.
In 2021 the magazine Nature published an article by several scientists including Mikael Grätzel. The article describes the research on strategies for improvement of the power conversion efficiency (PCE) of co-sensitized[9] solar cells. [10]
In comparison with current PCE of the latest improvements, the original DSSC efficiency in 1991 was less than 8 %[11].
PCE performance of different types of solar cell like dye-sensitized solar cells has improved over time. Analysis of these technologies will benefit from a standardization approach.[12]
The technology is inspired by photosynthesis. Powerfoyle contains a dye that converts light energy into electrical energy.
In a conventional dye-sensitized solar cell sunlight meets a light-sensitive dye, which then releases electrons. These are collected by another material, an electron scavenger. At the same time, negative charges migrate from an electrolyte into the dye and regenerate it. Connected to two electrodes, the system generates electricity. In comparison to previous dye-sensitized solar cells Powerfoyle can conduct electricity around 1,000 times better.[13]
Powerfoyle uses an entirely new substrate. This substrate, on which the layers are applied, lies at the center of the cell. Plus and minus contacts are printed on each side respectively. It's a very lightweight solar cell - all the active layers are on this texture. During production, the active materials of the solar cell are liquid at first. That makes application very easy. They're printed on, layer by layer. Despite its low weight, the substrate itself is very stable. It is chemically inert and highly heat resistant - important during the production process.
Cells can be printed in any shape. The surfaces can look and feel like leather, brushed steel, or wood.
Powerfoyle is produced using abundant materials, and can be integrated into other products.[14]
Research and collaborations
Exeger operations is based on research mainly carried out by PhD Henrik Lindström, CTO at Exeger. Dr Lindström has published severals scientific papers.[15] He has previously worked with research at Uppsala University[16], and EPFL in Lausanne.Switzerland, and later at National Institute for Materials Science in Tsukuba, Japan.
Exeger collaborates with academic institutions like the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH, Sweden) [17][18], Uppsala University (Sweden) and EPFL (Switzerland.). The Department of Chemistry at KTH has decribed the kind of research and knowledge that is required to be able to design and build functional and efficient photovoltaic solar cells based on photosynthesis: [19]
Exeger is a part of Qualcomm's Extension Program [20], participating in technology integration based on Qualcomm's Bluetooth SoC platforms.
Integration of Powerfoyle covers e.g. energy harvesting and boost converters in collaboration with technology partners like Matrix Industries, Nordic Semiconductors, Atmosic Technologies [21], EM Microelectronic[22] and Matrix Industries.
Other collaborations are based on IoT equipment and battery life improvements, as with Semtech,[23][24]
For its technology partners, Exeger has in collaboration with Mobile Interaction created a Software Development Kit (SDK).
Manufacturing
Exeger has 2 factories in Stockholm, Sweden. They have been setup in collaboration with ABB. Their first factory, Stockholm I, was announced in May 2021. A second factory, called Stockholm II, was announced in November 2021, [25]. It is capable of manufacturing up to 2.5 million m2 printed solar cells per year. The first deliveries from the factory took place in September 2023.
Implementations
Products containing Powerfoyle include self-charging speakers, headphones[26][27], helmets for bikers, trackers, sensors, and electronic shelf labels.
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Billing, Mimi (July 6, 2023). "Exeger's solar-charging headphone tech is primed to go global". Sifted (backed by Financial Times).
- ↑ "Solar cells from Sweden's Exeger – soon in a headset near you | EKN". www.ekn.se. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Fortum invests in breakthrough solar technology manufacturer Exeger". Fortum.com. 2016-12-01.
- ↑ "AMF invests SEK 277 million in Exeger that recently signed its first commercial contract with major global brand – Knutsson Holdings AB". 2019-06-28. Retrieved 2023-10-17.
- ↑ "Softbank-backed Exeger pulls in £27M funding to launch revolutionary self-charging wireless devices". UKTN. 11 May 2021.
- ↑ Nguyen, Van-Hung (2019-06-27). "AMF INVESTS SEK 277 MILLION IN EXEGER". Mfin. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Exeger takes $38M to ramp up production of its flexible solar cells for self-powered gadgets". Techcrunch. May 11, 2021.
- ↑ Bodin, Karin (2021-07-15). "SEK:s delårsrapport januari-juni 2021: Ökad efterfrågan på finansiering till svenska exportörers utländska kunder". Svensk Exportkredit (in svenska). Retrieved 2023-10-17.
- ↑ Gatty, M. Gilbert; Pullen, S.; Sheibani, E.; Tian, H.; Ott, S.; Hammarström, L. (2018-06-06). "Direct evidence of catalyst reduction on dye and catalyst co-sensitized NiO photocathodes by mid-infrared transient absorption spectroscopy". Chemical Science. 9 (22): 4983–4991. doi:10.1039/C8SC00990B. ISSN 2041-6539.
- ↑ Zhang, Dan; Stojanovic, Marko; Ren, Yameng; Cao, Yiming; Eickemeyer, Felix T.; Socie, Etienne; Vlachopoulos, Nick; Moser, Jacques-E.; Zakeeruddin, Shaik M.; Hagfeldt, Anders; Grätzel, Michael (2021-03-19). "A molecular photosensitizer achieves a Voc of 1.24 V enabling highly efficient and stable dye-sensitized solar cells with copper(II/I)-based electrolyte". Nature Communications. 12 (1): 1777. doi:10.1038/s41467-021-21945-3. ISSN 2041-1723.
- ↑ Mammino, Liliana L. (2021-11-17). Green Chemistry and Computational Chemistry: Shared Lessons in Sustainability. Elsevier. p. 125. ISBN 978-0-323-85182-4.
- ↑ Almora, Osbel; Baran, Derya; Bazan, Guillermo C.; Berger, Christian; Cabrera, Carlos I.; Catchpole, Kylie R.; Erten‐Ela, Sule; Guo, Fei; Hauch, Jens; Ho‐Baillie, Anita W. Y.; Jacobsson, T. Jesper; Janssen, Rene A. J.; Kirchartz, Thomas; Kopidakis, Nikos; Li, Yongfang (2021-03-18). "Device Performance of Emerging Photovoltaic Materials (Version 1)". Advanced Energy Materials. 11 (11). doi:10.1002/aenm.202002774. ISSN 1614-6832.
- ↑ "Versatile solar cells technology for self-charging devices: Henrik Lindström and Giovanni Fili named European Inventor Award 2021 finalists | Epo.org". www.epo.org. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
- ↑ "Henrik Lindström and Giovanni Fili - Flexible solar cells for portable devices". European Patent Office. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Publications by PhD Henrik Lindstrom". ResearchGate. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Solar cells. Research on solar electricity concerns new materials and structures". Uppsala University. Retrieved 2023-06-07.
- ↑ "Solar cell performance improves with ion-conducting polymer". KTH. 2013-09-03.
- ↑ Aurelius, Gustaf; Ingvarsson, Mattias (2019). Simulation of Production Flow : A simulation-based approach to evaluate and optimize future production scenarios. KTH, School of Industrial Engineering and Management (ITM).
- ↑ "Energy". KTH. Retrieved 2023-10-11.
- ↑ "Qualcomm Advantage Network Member Directory". Qualcomm. Retrieved 2023-10-13.
- ↑ "Exeger and Atmosic Technologies Partner to Create Energy Harvesting Solutions for the IoT Sector". Businesswire. 2022-09-09.
- ↑ Martins, Joao (August 30, 2022). "Exeger Establishes Partnerships to Improve Efficiency of Its Powerfoyle Energy-Harvesting Technology". Audioexpress.
- ↑ Schelmetic, Tracey E (November 14, 2022). "Exeger Chooses Semtech to Extend IoT Sensor Battery Life". www.iotevolutionworld.com.
- ↑ "Semtech and Exeger Demonstrate Solar Harvesting Technology for Internet of Things (IoT) Sensors". Businesswire. November 10, 2022.
- ↑ "Exeger to build a second solar cell factory in Sweden". Evertiq. Nov 29, 2021.
- ↑ Farmbrough, Heather. "Look No Leads: How A Swedish Technology Will Revolutionise Consumer Electronics". Forbes. Retrieved 2023-10-12.
- ↑ Brewer, Jenny (15 April 2020). "This screen printed fabric will soon provide solar power for your headphones, bags and more". www.itsnicethat.com.
External links
This article "Exeger Operations AB" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical. Articles taken from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be accessed on Wikipedia's Draft Namespace.