Plastics

Flexible and foldable high-performance barrier or encapsulation technology had long represented a technology challenge. The industry spent a decade and a half optimizing the approaches and the processes to achieve large-area production-grade results. The development however has not ended. Indeed, the commercial journey towards flexible and foldable devices is only just beginning. As such, the development of flexible barrier technologies still has far to travel.

The evolution of diode laser price and performance is rapidly opening new markets. In this article, the technology consulting firm IDTechEx demonstrate how advances in semiconductor laser technology enable novel applications in laser material processing and industrial manufacturing.

Every year IDTechEx Research publishes an article that reflects the latest trends in the conductive ink industry. These articles are based on IDTechEx Research's report "Conductive Ink Markets 2019-2029: Forecasts, Technologies, Players", which is the result of ongoing research over the past eight years. This year IDTechEx will give an update on multiple less mature trends which offer high growth potential.

IDTechEx will be hosting a free webinar on Thursday 11 July 2019 titled Manufacturing with Direct Diode Lasers

The technologies seeking to unseat ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) are by now themselves old, at least in the sense that they have been around for a decade and a half. They seem to have been forever in the waiting mode, anticipating the arrival of their major breakthrough. A key differentiator has long been higher flexibility and foldability over ITO. The question now is how will different technology options fare given that the paradigm shift towards flexible displays is finally upon us despite the recent product launch delays?

Expect seven-times the air traffic in 2050 increasing greenhouse gas X4 unless something radical happens. Elon Musk has made interesting statements about electric aircraft over the years. His Tesla will survive and prosper: if Tesla investors stop investing the Chinese will snap it up. Either way, somewhere down its list of priorities will be reinventing pure electric aircraft, so what does Tesla bring to the table?

Graphene industry is entering a new phase, a phase of growth. The industry has accumulated significant experience over the past 10-12 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'.

TactoTek transforms how electronics are designed and produced with injection molded structural electronics.

Since 2014/2015 IDTechEx Research noticed that the centre of graphene research and commercial activity was shifting to China. This trend had shown itself in publication and patent numbers, as well as in investments and capacity announcements. The precedent was also there: China had stepped in late but became a leading territory in commercialising carbon nanotubes.

Stretchable conductive inks have been in the commercialization mode for multiple years now. Arguably, it all started as a technology push. The big trend at the time was wearable technology and e-textiles. And, naturally, ink and paste suppliers did not want to be left behind. In this article we look at why conductive inks could have a compelling proposition to this market, at some of the reasons which have hindered market progress, and at the current state of progress.