By Isabella Kaminski

The OPV (organic photovoltaic) torches, produced by Denmark's Risø DTU and Mekoprint, were given away at the LOPE-C conference in Frankfurt on 28-30 June.

The companies aimed to show that polymer solar cells could be mass produced using roll-to-roll production techniques. The project – Industrialisation of Polymer Solar Cells – is funded by the Energy Technology Development and Demonstration Programme (EUDP).

The torches are the size of a credit card and the light source is a small white LED (light emitting diode). They are powered by a lithium polymer battery, which is charged by polymer solar cells.

The Organic and Printed Electronics Association (OE-A) published its fourth road map for organic and printed electronics at LOPE-C, which aims to identify problems preventing the technology from reaching a commercial stage.