Advanced Materials

At IDTechEx we have been closely following and analysing the nano-carbon areas including graphene and carbon nanotubes.

Back in 2013, we witnessed the launch by Samsung and LG of the first AMOLED displays deposited on plastic substrates, and the first efforts to encapsulate plastic and flexible displays that IDTechEx is forecasting will become more than a $16bn dollar market in the next 5 years.

About $160 million has been invested in graphene companies, excluding government and IPO financing. Companies continue to move up the value chain, from selling graphene to selling graphene based intermediary products such as inks - a welcome development from end users as it lifts their burden of fine tuning and experimentation.

2014 has been an eventful year for the graphene industry.

OLED displays are the biggest opportunity for flexible encapsulation and for that reason IDTechEx has highlighted the most significant advances in the technology in its recently updated report on the topic "Barrier Layers for Flexible Electronics 2015-2025: Technologies, Markets, Forecasts".

Graphene electrodes are one of the best prospects for enabling supercapacitors and superbatteries to take up to half of the lithium-ion battery market in 15 years - amounting to tens of billions of dollars yearly.

New research by IDTechEx in the report Graphene Markets, Technologies and Opportunities 2014-2024 External Link shows that graphene markets will grow from around $20 million in 2014 to more than $390 million in 2024, at the material level.

The conductive ink and paste business is a large market that will generate $1.6 billion in 2014 in revenue at the ink/paste level.

The IDTechEx report "Functional Materials for Future Electronics: Metals, Inorganic & Organic Compounds, Graphene, CNT" looks at the new electronics and electrics from the point of view of suppliers of fine chemicals and associated high added value processes.

Transparent conductive sheets (on glass or other substrates) are used in a variety of applications including touch screens, displays, lighting, photovoltaics, etc.