LG Display, in South Korea, is developing a lightweight solar cell for powering e-readers.
The company recently unveiled a working prototype comprising a Sony Reader with a specially developed cell.
However, a commercial product will not be available before 2012 as LG works to improve the efficiency.
E-readers are emerging as a potentially big market for organic solar cells, especially as the displays used in them become more advanced to enable bigger screen sizes, full-colour and eventually video. These developments will draw on more power than the first generation black and white e-paper displays used in e-readers today.
Companies including Plextronics and Konarka in the US and G24i in the UK are developing organic solar cells for consumer electronics including mobile phones, e-readers and laptops.