As interest grows in flexible and printed electronics, there is also a need for power devices that are flexible as well. Pliant Power Devices, Toronto, Canada, may have a flexible solution for this challenge.
 
 A finalist for the intelliFLEX Startup of the Year Award at CPES2018, Pliant Power Devices spun out of the Seferos research group in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Toronto.
 
Dr. Tyler Schon and Prof. Dwight Seferos began developing carbon-based polymers for lithium-ion battery electrodes in 2013. What they discovered was that in addition to being a competitive energy storage material, they could form flexible electrode films with plastic-like properties. After exploring the battery industry, they found that there is a high demand for flexible energy storage for emerging consumer electronics applications.
 
Pliant was founded in June 2017 and since then has been working to commercialize the technology with the support of the UTEST incubator and the Hatchery LaunchLab, two University of Toronto programs focused on accelerating research-based start-ups. Pliant is also a part of intelliFLEX, a Canadian organization bringing together industry players in printed, flexible, and hybrid electronics.
 
Dr. Schon, founder and CEO of Pliant Power Devices, noted that the flexibility of Pliant’s power devices is an advantage for flexible and hybrid electronics systems.
 
“Our power devices are able to be bent, twisted, and rolled without sacrificing electrochemical performance due to our proprietary plastic-like electrodes,” Dr. Schon reported. “Additionally, we can provide custom shapes because of our ability to print our devices.”
 
The ability to create these systems using carbon-based materials offers unique environmental benefits as well.
 
“A major feature that sets us apart from everyone else is that we can provide power and energy densities that are competitive with today’s lithium-ion batteries using sustainable carbon-based materials,” Dr. Schon said. “This offers advantages of safety, environmentally friendliness and protection from the price fluctuations that metal-based materials are prone to.”
 
For Pliant Power Devices, the wearables market seems to be an ideal opportunity.
 
“Our devices are well-suited for the wearable electronics market due to the focus on comfort, aesthetics and seamless integration of electronics in wearable electronics products,” Dr. Schon noted. “Across multiple segments within the wearable electronics space, the need for power devices that are able to accommodate the shape, size and power requirements of the end product is unmet. Once Pliant is established in the wearable electronics market, we expect that our technology can be used for consumer electronics, electric vehicles, and grid storage applications.”
 
Dr. Schon added that Pliant Power Devices expects to start shipping samples to potential customers at the end of this summer and start production in the second quarter of 2019. He noted that the market reaction has been excellent.
 
“There is a lot of excitement for our product on the market,” Dr. Schon said. “We are in conversations with many companies in the wearable electronics space that are excited to get our power devices in their hands to incorporate into their products. There is currently no solution that can service the wearables electronics market in terms of electrical performance, form factor and mechanical properties. Additionally, the movement for more sustainable materials in electronics has made us an attractive alternative to the solutions that are out there today.”