Peafowl Plasmonics is a deep tech start-up based in Uppsala, Sweden. Our groundbreaking transparent light harvesting cell enables the next generation of self-powered IoT devices, suitable for sensors in smart glass, shelf labels and other connected devices that benefit from being transparent and self-powered.
More power from the sun hits the Earth in a single hour than humanity uses in an entire year. However, despite this abundant, reliable and pollution free energy source, constraints such as cost, inconsistency, aesthetics and space prevent widespread utilization. To solve the world’s growing need for clean power, innovation is required for new solar technologies which are efficient, stable, sustainable and seamlessly incorporated into modern living.
There are countless possible applications where our transparent solar cells can make a significant difference by adding a self-powering capacity to innumerable digital functions in our environment to simplify and elate our every-day life. The technology is already here, we just want to add power savings, sustainability and our unique beauty of being transparent.
Indoor Sensors
Residential and commercial buildings account for 20% of global delivered energy consumption, but digitalisation could cut energy consumption in buildings with more than 50%. Implementation of indoor sensors is detained because current solutions, with dependancy on batteries, is unsustainable to scale for the trillions of sensors needed and expensive to maintain in terms of battery changes and material re-cycling. Our transparent solar cells make it possible to implement self-powering ability to indoor senosors in both new and existing buildings, enabling sustainable digitalisation that will make our cities safer and greener without compromises in living standard.
Wearables
Light, as a source of energy, is ubiquitous, available and pollution free, making it the perfect source of power for wearables. However, constraints such as cost, aesthetics and space have so far prevented widespread utilization. The technology is already available, but we are only in the beginning of exploring how to implement our light-harvesting solar cells into wearables, to improve functionality and making them self-powered with sustainable technology.
All wearable devices run on battery. Even if the technology evolve and batteries become smaller and last longer, this race is already lost by our never-ending demand for more power. With our solar cells on the device, power will be continuously topped-up by light, extending the cycle for recharging and battery lifetime, and limit the ever-increasing battery size to meet escalating power needs.
Displays
Displays are everywhere; from the high-power color displays of smart phones and laptop screens to low-power e-readers and the passive display technology of electronic shelf labels. In many cases, displays are part of free-standing, battery-driven devices where much of the battery power is used only to power the display itself.
The great potential of light-powered displays is that many displays are already depending on the presence of an external light source. An e-reader or an electronic shelf label will need to be used in reading light conditions, and this means that if we place a transparent solar cell across the screen the cell will always be sufficiently illuminated whenever the device is in use.
Technology
A direct plasmonic solar cell converts light into electricity using plasmonic nanoparticles as the active, photovoltaic material. Plasmonic nanoparticles can absorb up to ten times as much light as other known materials. Because the Peafowl cell is so efficient at converting the light it intercepts into electricity, it can produce electricity even when very little light is intercepted. This is the key to the ultra-high transparency of the cell.
Our technology and everything we do is developed with sustainability and climate impact in mind. From the non-toxic, readily available materials we use to how we save energy in production by low-temperature inkjet printing and all the way to our sales and distribution where we offer a deployable manufacturing model, allowing our customers to license the method and buy the “ink” and print the cells in their own production facility.
