Dracula Technologies launches next-gen LAYER OPV with 30% higher performance for IoT
Dracula Technologies announced its next-generation LAYER® organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules for ambient-light energy harvesting, unveiled at CES 2026. The new LAYER® generation delivers a 30% increase in overall performance and adds improvements in flexibility, aesthetics, connectivity, and sustainability, while maintaining durability and reliability for real-world deployments.
“Next-generation LAYER OPV delivers 30% higher performance while giving OEMs greater design freedom, better aesthetics, and simpler integration for battery-free IoT,” says Sadok Ben Dkhil, CTO, Dracula Technologies.
Addressing the battery challenge in IoT
IoT applications such as asset tracking, smart buildings, Industry 4.0, and consumer smart products often rely on battery-powered sensors. For low-energy devices, batteries can increase maintenance frequency and cost, reduce operating lifetime, and add sustainability and compliance challenges.
Dracula Technologies’ OPV modules convert ambient light (natural or artificial, direct or indirect) into electricity, providing a practical power source for battery-free or battery-assisted designs, including operation under indoor LED lighting.
What’s new in next-generation LAYER®
Performance gains from new active-material ink
An advanced active-material ink increases visible-light absorption and improves conversion efficiency, driving the 30% performance uplift.
Improved aesthetics and usable area with silver bus bars
LAYER® modules move from copper to screen-printed silver bus bars. Finer line resolution reduces inactive “dead zones,” supports more discreet designs, and improves visual uniformity.
Enhanced robustness and finishes
A new decorative top coating improves appearance and helps protect against scratches and mechanical stress, with multiple finish options to suit product design needs.
Integration-ready connectivity with CrimpFlex
Dracula Technologies continues to offer CrimpFlex, a robust interconnection approach that simplifies plug-and-play integration into electronics, supports flexible routing, and enables easier measurement access during development and testing.
Benefits for OEMs and product teams
The performance and design improvements translate into tangible options for product development, including:
More power in the same footprint for existing device form factors
Smaller modules for the same energy output, reducing size and cost
Enabling new use cases previously limited by capacity or footprint
Supporting enhanced device capability, such as more frequent transmissions or higher data collection rates
Improved operation in low light and during dark intervals common in storage and logistics environments
Continuing innovation
Dracula Technologies is advancing OPV research and industrialization with initiatives focused on increasing organic material content, strengthening moisture barriers, reducing layer thickness for lighter and more flexible modules, and enabling new form factors such as smart labels.
Interested in integrating next-generation LAYER® OPV into your next IoT product? Contact Dracula Technologies to discuss your use case, request samples, and set up an evaluation under your target lighting conditions.