Advanced Materials

As growing numbers of countries identify critical materials within their economies, the ability to recycle them is becoming increasingly important, especially considering both their economic importance and ongoing supply risks. Sustainability goals rely on growing technology sectors like electric vehicles, which rely on magnets to be manufactured, ultimately meaning sourcing and recycling critical materials is an economic necessity to keep supply chains running.

Quantum computing is growing closer to realizing its full potential, pipe dreams have become tangible five-year plans, and more and more players are earning their own money for the first time. Finally, time will pass quicker than many appreciate in the years ahead - don't blink and miss the quantum computing market grow up, and the chance to leverage its disruptive potential at maturity.

"Forever chemicals", the colloquial term for the family of chemicals known as PFAS, is coming under increasing regulatory pressure globally as concerns over the negative effects of PFAS on human health and the environment are mounting. In this short video, IDTechEx Principal Technology Analyst Sona Dadhania talks through what "forever chemicals" are and why they are having such a global impact.

Electric vehicle (EV) sales continued to increase in 2024, admittedly with some significant regional disparity, but IDTechEx found that globally, EV sales increased 24% in 2024 over 2023. Despite the fact that most data shows EV fires are less common than combustion engine vehicles, safety cannot be overlooked in any rate of occurrence. This article aims to discuss some of the key factors and some of the potential materials that EV battery designers may consider.

The automotive industry is under increasing scrutiny to improve sustainability, and one of the key approaches to addressing this is sustainable material choice. The automotive sector uses over 14 million tonnes of plastics in passenger automotive vehicles each year.

Scope 3 emissions (indirect greenhouse gas emissions that occur in a company's value chain but are not produced by the company itself) are hard to quantify and even harder for businesses to reduce. The embodied carbon from construction can often be a significant contributor, with most of this CO2 coming from the cement used. This article explores three new green cement solutions that are increasingly enabling companies to decrease scope 3 CO2 emissions.

The electronics market is vast, with integrated circuits (ICs) being the third most traded product globally, presenting significant opportunities for sustainable electronics innovation. Action is currently being undertaken by many well-known electronics manufacturers to improve the sustainability and efficiency of their products. This includes water management strategies for semiconductor manufacturing, with over 500 billion liters of water used annually by the industry.

Achieving the strongest, thinnest, and most conductive graphene would require manufacturers to grow a perfect single layer, which can be tricky. Carbon nanotubes are another type of carbon allotrope with the same chemical formula as graphene but a different visible structure. IDTechEx explores multiple applications for graphene within the wider market, alongside other carbon allotropes that have their own unique qualities.

The battery industry is facing increasing pressure to develop new chemistries and materials to keep up with rising energy density and sustainability demands. The traditional materials discovery process is both expensive and time-consuming. Machine learning methods, specifically materials informatics, could provide a necessary avenue for accelerating the battery development process.

A free collection of insights from our industry experts, sharing some of the key technology innovation trends shaping the next decade.