NEWS


Biodegradable solar cell allows digital agriculture


VTT has developed a degradable solar cell module that can be at- tached to a plant leaf to monitor agricultural crops. While ‘digital agriculture’ is on the rise, it requires increasing use of measure- ment electronics in farming – but electronic waste and the lack of a power supply pose problems – which this promises to overcome. The cell is small and light enough to be attached directly to a leaf, or the stem of a plant. It is about the size of a credit card, and very thin and flexible. After the growing season, the cell decomposes along with the rechargeable power supply that the cell charges. “When a solar cell is used in an agricultural application, biodegradability is essen- tial,” said Maria Smolander, research team leader at VTT. “In this case, there is no real harm caused if the cell cannot be removed from the field, even if it is in close contact with the soil.” The device was devel- oped by VTT and five


EuPC adds film sector group


EuPC, which represents European plastics convert- ers, has created a new sector group called European Plastic Films (EuPF). It brings together European companies active in the film extrusion, to boost collaboration and innovation, it says. The founding members


Above: VTT’s degradable solar cell can be used to monitor agricultural crops


partners: the universities of Tampere, Glasgow and McGill, plus Lukasiewicz- IMIF in Poland and CSEM in Switzerland. In the project, VTT


developed the solar cell and Tampere University devel- oped a battery-like superca- pacitor that stores energy. The project has also developed compostable sensors and modules that transmit collected data wirelessly. The aim is not to collect a


large amount of energy, but about sensors with a low energy consumption that can monitor the state of the


environment. The degrada- ble solar cell is not intended to match the performance of conventional cells – and there is no need for a long service life.


Depending on condi-


tions, a biodegradable solar cell will decompose within weeks or months. Surface protection can be used to extend its lifetime. The VTT cell uses a bio-based thin film substrate and has a partly inorganic structure. It is less than 35 microns thick and, even with protection added, total thickness is only tenths of a millimetre. � www.vttresearch.com


are Crocco, Trioworld, RKW, Armando Alvarez and Ergis. Renato Zelcher, CEO of Crocco has been appointed president. “Our goal is to contrib- ute to ongoing policy dialogue, promote circular solutions and drive technological progress in line with the EU’s Green Deal,” he said. The group will focus on priorities including: representing the interests of plastic film producers in EU legislative discussions; supporting the implemen- tation of circular economy measures specific to film; and engaging with policymakers and stake- holders. � www.eupc.org


Tracing a path to packaging recyclability


Fraunhofer IVV has developed new concepts for sustainable flexible plastic packaging. As part of the Circular Food Pack project it has used tracer-based solutions to achieve a sorting purity of 99%.


In combination with efficient cleaning technologies, the project has recovered recyclates from flexible packaging waste that can be used to make new packag-


4


ing for sensitive filling goods. Recyclates from packaging waste obtained without tracer marking are suitable for personal and health care packaging. In the production of new packaging, these recyclates can account for up to 62% of the plastic required. Fraunhofer IVV said that its solvent-


based recycling process achieved a cleaning efficiency of up to 99.8% for


FILM & SHEET EXTRUSION | July/August 2025


both highly volatile and medium volatile contaminants – and that scaling up the process creates opportunities for recycling food packaging. Its PE recyclate for making blown films – and for further processing into MDO PE – has been used to create demonstrator packaging with a recyclate content of up to 30%. � www.ivv.fraunhofer.de


www.filmandsheet.com


IMAGE: VTT


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