Graphene industry is entering a new phase, a phase of growth. The industry has accumulated significant experience over the past ten to twelve years to bring about this phase. In this article, IDTechEx Research offer opinions about the recent past and future outlook of the graphene industry based on the report ‘Graphene, 2D Materials and Carbon Nanotubes: Markets, Technologies and Opportunities 2019-2029’. 

Power electronics is a growing market thanks to the electrification of many industries including the automotive industry, as outlined in the IDTechEx Research report ‘Conductive Ink Markets 2019-2029: Forecasts, Technologies, Players’. The power electronic modulus are also growing in performance. 

The automotive industry has emerged as a significant market opportunity for suppliers of conductive pastes and similar materials. It has the potential to one day rival in significance the irreplaceable photovoltaic market. Almost every major paste supplier with a global profile is re-organising its team and its product portfolio to capture this rising trend.

Machine makers in many established markets sell their machines directly or through dealer networks. At times, they create additional revenue streams by offering technical after-sales support. They often hope that the installed base of their machines together with limited incompatibility with competitors’ products provides some lock-in mechanism.

Printed, flexible and organic electronics is an enabling set of technologies, comprising of many components that are at different stages of commercialisation and maturity. Commercialisation is being tackled very differently. Some are disrupting conventional products, for example by enabling foldable displays for smart phones. 

Solution processed light emitting organic materials were demonstrated in 1989 with a tiny 0.1 EQE (external quantum efficiency). Since then there has been tremendous progress on material synthesis/production as well as on display processing. However, thus far, commercialisation has remained elusive.

Bendable Displays have finally become a consumer product. It’s been no easy feat - making multiple layers of sensitive materials work reliably while the whole device is being flexed. By Raghu Das, CEO, IDTechEx.

Quantum dots (QDs) are a commercial success for nanotechnology and are already used in display applications. Importantly, the QD technology and application landscape is rapidly evolving. Here, IDTechEx have discussed the multiple innovation and commercialisation frontiers of this technology. 

Glass is an excellent barrier. It offers processing temperatures as well as high dimensional stability. It is also smoother and more transparent thin plastic films; however it is rigid. This limitation has created space and need for flexible alternatives. Companies have been developing flexible, transparent and high-performance barriers, as outlined in the IDTechEx Research report ‘Barrier Films and Thin Film Encapsulation for Flexible and/...

In-Mold (or Mould) Electronics (IME) promises to enable high-volume production of structural electronics where the electronic circuitry and functionality are part of the 3D-shaped structure itself. This will save weight and space and will enable new elegant designs. IME in many ways, it is an evolution of the well-established IMD, in which molding (or other ways of 3D forming) are combined with graphic printing. 

A large proportion of the cost, disruption, pollution and exposure to natural disasters in a city would be eliminated if there were no infrastructure. Imagine no sewage or gas pipes, electricity poles or even sidewalks from which people leap into the face of approaching traffic. Poor sanitation such as leaking pipes kills half a million children under the age of five annually and costs $200bn a year in healthcare costs and lost income worldwide.&...

The market composition of transparent conductive films (TCF) and materials (TCM) has not dramatically shifted for some years. It is heavily reliant upon select markets such as flat consumer small/medium sized electronic touch screens. The IDTechEx Research report ‘Transparent Conductive Films and Materials 2018-2028: Forecasts, Technologies, Players’ puts this reliance around 85-90% today. 

3D Printing of composites is becoming an increasingly explored commercial opportunity. The 3D Printing industry is looking for functional enhancements to assist industrial uptake and meanwhile the traditional composites industry is looking at ways to allow more design freedom, accelerate time to market, and reduce the costs for low-production volume.

As several US cities have shown, sensors and data processing gets us pothole counting and prediction for example. However, it is now clear that smart cities can be zero emission, quiet and make all their own clean water, food and electricity. That beats counting potholes any day. Indeed, smart materials are leading to modular roads made from recycled plastic that are hollow, taking flood water, generate their own electricity for self de-icing and...

From its humble beginnings in the late 1980s, through to the global force that it is today, the capabilities of 3D printing technology have expanded dramatically, to establish itself as an attractive manufacturing solution for prototyping and production.

The new global market report from IDTechEx Research, ‘In-Mold Electronics 2019-2029: Technology, Market Forecasts, Players’, provides technical assessment of manufacturing process and material requirements, market outlook for applications and players, study of competitive routes to 3D electronics and more.

The report ‘Stretchable and Conformal Electronics 2019-2029’ from IDTechEx Research, aims to explain everything you need to know about stretchable electronics. It provides the a comprehensive and insightful view of this diverse emerging industry, discussing each of the different stretchable materials and components available or being developed today.

California and Europe are pumping millions into development of electricity-generating roads using piezoelectrics. Piezos will also be useful in self-powered IoT nodes because no one will change or even charge millions of batteries for those nodes let alone the envisaged billions. Without self-powered nodes, the IoT will be nothing more than a footnote in history.

Many new electric vehicles were on display at the IDTechEx Show on 14th-15th November in Santa Clara, California. However, that was the tip of the iceberg. The event had a hidden message - the future enabling technologies for electric vehicles (EVs), from buses to cars to mining vehicles.

Last week while most of us this side of the pond were at the electronica exhibition in Munich, approximately 3,500 attendees from 42 countries headed to the IDTechEx Show in Santa Clara, California, which featured 284 exhibiting organisations. Raghu Das, CEO, IDTechEx, explains.