Next Generation Light Energy Harvesting OPV Delivers 30 Percent Performance Increase for Battery-Free IoT
CES Las Vegas, January 4, 2026, Dracula Technologies, a pioneer in enabling battery-free IoT through energy harvesting from ambient indoor light, today announced that the company will present LAYER® V2.0 at CES 2026, the next generation of its organic photovoltaic (OPV) technology, delivering a 30 percent increase in overall performance compared to the previous generation.
Designed to address the growing demand for more efficient, compact, and sustainable power sources for connected devices, LAYER® V2.0 enables higher power output for the same surface area, or equivalent performance from a smaller module footprint. This new generation gives OEMs greater design freedom while reducing size, cost, and reliance on disposable batteries. By delivering greater efficiency, flexibility, adaptability, and aesthetics, OPV modules bring durable and sustainable energy generation to a whole new range of IoT and smart sensor applications across industrial and consumer markets.
“With LAYER® V2.0, we are taking a major step forward in making light energy harvesting a practical and scalable power source for real-world IoT applications,” said Sadok Ben Dkhil, Chief Technology Officer at Dracula Technologies. “This new generation removes key limitations around size, performance, and cost, enabling more autonomous, durable, and sustainable connected devices without compromising reliability or design. With improved performance and new aesthetic options, OEMs now have greater freedom to integrate energy harvesting seamlessly into their products.”
Thirty Percent Performance Gain Under Real World Lighting Conditions
The performance improvement in LAYER® V2.0 is driven by a new generation of proprietary OPV ink, engineered to combine enhanced light absorption with higher conversion efficiency. The ink is printed on a substrate using an inkjet printer that provides not just a durable and efficient active area layer but also the flexibility to support custom cell shapes and configurations at volume scale. Together, these advances deliver a 30 percent overall performance increase, including under low indoor light conditions dominated by LED lighting.
For OEMs and system designers, this translates into tangible benefits:
- Higher available power for the same module size, enabling increased sensing, processing, or data transmission
- Reduced module surface for the same power output, lowering cost and simplifying integration
- Improved operation in low light or intermittent light environments, such as warehouses or storage areas
Improved Aesthetics and Simplified Integration
LAYER® V2.0 introduces significant design and manufacturing enhancements. Copper bus bars have been replaced with fine screen-printed silver bus bars, enabling simpler implementation of this part of the device using well-established industrial processes, while reducing inactive areas and delivering a more uniform visual appearance. This approach also preserves a high level of design flexibility, similar to the deposition of the other layers produced by inkjet printing, as only a simple tooling change is required for each new design. A new decorative top coating further enhances aesthetics and allows OEMs to select finishes adapted to their product design. This also makes it possible to design more discreet OPV devices and, above all, to provide greater robustness, including improved protection against scratches in applications where the product may be exposed to impacts or mechanical stress.
Enabling the Next Generation of Battery Free IoT
Many IoT applications continue to rely heavily on batteries, which significantly impact bill of materials, maintenance requirements, operating lifetime, and environmental footprint. By harvesting energy from ambient indoor light, whether natural or artificial, LAYER® OPV modules reduce or eliminate the need for disposable batteries in a wide range of applications.
With LAYER® V2.0, energy harvesting becomes viable for a broader set of use cases across asset tracking, smart buildings, industrial IoT, and consumer smart devices, enabling more autonomous systems with lower total cost of ownership.
Continuing Innovation in Sustainable Energy Harvesting
Dracula Technologies continues to invest in further innovations to improve the efficiency, durability, flexibility, and sustainability of OPV technology. Ongoing work includes the development of more organic-based materials, improved protection barriers, thinner and lighter module structures, and new form factors, opening the door to future applications such as smart cards and next generation connected objects.
Note to editors: The company will present its latest innovation at CES 2026 Unveiled, before showcasing it throughout CES 2026 in the French Tech Pavilion, booth 60401.
About Dracula Technologies: Dracula Technologies, headquartered in Valence, France, pioneers sustainable energy solutions with its LAYER® technology, revolutionizing power sources for low-power electronics. Its organic photovoltaic (OPV) modules, manufactured using patented digital printing, harvest ambient light, eliminating reliance on traditional batteries. LAYER®Vault complements the company’s existing OPV harvesting product line, transforming it into a 2-in-1 product, combining low-light energy harvesting and storage on a single, flexible film ensuring uninterrupted device functionality, empowering Smart Buildings, Smart Homes, Smart Asset Tracking, and other related applications. With a commitment to clean, renewable energy, Dracula Technologies leads the charge towards a greener future by providing long-lasting and cost-effective energy solutions. Supporting its mission is its new “Green MicroPower Factory”—a state-of-the-art, fully automated facility, the largest of its kind in the world with a capacity of up to 150 million cm² of printed OPV devices per year.
Media Contact for Dracula Technologies :
Camille Dufour – International PR Consulting
camille.prconsulting@gmail.com
Mobile : +33 (0)6 79 49 51 43
