Headphones, connected safety helmets, e-readers, hearing aids, wireless outdoor lamps… What if tomorrow, all these small objects were energy self-sufficient, without their design having really changed? This promise is what the start-up Optipus-PV wants to make, founded in December 2023 and resulting from eight years of research carried out in two Marseille CNRS laboratories – the CINam (Interdisciplinary Nanoscience Center of Marseille) and the IM2NP (the Materials Microelectronics Nanosciences Institute of Provence).
To do this, Optipus-PV is developing organic photovoltaics, known under the acronym OPV (for organic photovoltaics). “It is the third generation of solar technology, after silicon panels and thin films”specifies Benoit Bailliart, co-founder of the start-up with three CNRS researchers. The particularity of OPV is that it only uses organic components, which naturally have photovoltaic properties. With a double advantage: to be easily recyclable at the end of their life, because they do not contain critical materials or rare earths, and easier to manufacture since we can use printing technologies and do without silicon wafers.
Give objects a second skin
To manufacture its films, Optipus-PV prints different layers of inks and chemical substrates, the selection of which is based on years of research carried out at the CNRS. “We create a mille-feuille by alternating printed layers and evaporated layers, a technique which allows the substrate to be evaporated to make a thin layer.explains Benoit Bailliart. Combining these two processes allows us to double the yields compared to what is found on the market today, with a target yield of around 15%. This means that we generate 150 watts per hour per square meter in good sunlight conditions. But it also works, in a more moderate way, under artificial light at home.”
And that’s the whole point since the market targeted by the start-up is that of outdoor and indoor electronic objects. “We named our product “Energyskin” (energetic skin in English, Editor’s note) : our modules are very thin and flexible. Printed on a PET support (a polymer, Editor’s note)they look like plastic and aim to give a second skin to electronic products to offer them an infinite source of energy.summarizes Benoit Bailliart.
Eventually create logos in films
Optipus-PV is not the only French start-up to position itself on this. While the Nantes group Armor separated in 2023 from its Asca activity dedicated to organic photovoltaic films – with which it tried unsuccessfully to address the buildings market – two other French companies are developing organic solar for the indoor market. These are Dracula Technologies, which inaugurated its factory in Valence (Drôme) in September, and G-Lyte, which prints dye cells in Amiens. They will also be present at this 2025 edition of CES!
To distinguish itself from the competition – first and foremost two Swedish companies, Exeger and Epishine – Optipus-PV relies in particular on its skills in optics. “We are able to vary the thickness of the last layer of the film, the active one, to generate optical interference and thus create colors and patterns”argues the co-founder, who specifies that the start-up is mastering more and more colors and imagines eventually being able to create logos in its photovoltaic films.
A somewhat gimmicky dimension? Certainly not, according to Benoit Bailliart. “We did a big market study to find out if there is a need for design or not. It appears that if the first condition for acceptability of the technology is performance, interest in color and material effect is important. We know that Exeger has missed out on contracts because they don’t know how to do anything other than black.”
Finance a pre-production line
A niche market, colorful electronic objects can quickly represent significant volumes. “On safety and audio helmets alone, 400 million are produced each year, half of which are not black: if we take even 10% of these 200 million colored helmets, that ensures a certain volume,” figure Benoit Bailliart. Already in discussions with an electronics company to integrate its films into its products, the Marseille start-up is at CES in Las Vegas to look for others and ultimately sign co-development contracts.
While its prototypes are today manufactured in a CINam laboratory, the young company – which has seven employees and should increase to 11 in 2025 – is aiming to raise seed funds during 2025, to have the capacity to finance a line of pre-production. “Behind, either we will raise funds in series A to finance our factory, or we will look for a partner among existing OPV players in Europe to produce there”draws Benoit Bailliart.
Source: www.usinenouvelle.com
