Research Articles

The sustainability, design, and recovery of electric vehicle (EV) batteries are set to be overhauled thanks to the approval of the EU's new regulations governing the battery market. In June 2023, parliament approved new regulations that set out battery requirements, including a 'Battery Passport' and recovery of certain materials.

Las baterías de iones de litio se utilizan ampliamente en diversos mercados, como la electrónica de consumo, los vehículos eléctricos y el almacenamiento estacionario de energía. Sin embargo, a medida que aumenta la demanda de baterías de iones de litio, se hace cada vez más necesario gestionar su sostenibilidad a lo largo de todo su ciclo de vida, incluido el final de su vida útil.

Wednesday 2 August 2023 - EV Charging for the Decade Ahead; State of public charging deployment in key regions; 800V platforms and wallbox DC chargers; Fleet charging solutions including megawatt charging; Battery swapping and wireless charging developments; Impact of government policies - AFIR (EU) and NEVI (USA)

La Comisión Europea ha propuesto la {Ley de Materias Primas Críticas|https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_23_1661} para "garantizar el acceso de la UE a un suministro seguro, diversificado, asequible y sostenible de materias primas críticas". Esta ley podría tener grandes implicaciones para varias tecnologías y mercados, pero uno de los que está creciendo rápidamente con una gran dependencia de las materias primas críticas es el mercado de los vehículos eléctricos (VE), concretamente los motores eléctricos.

With the continuous increase in the thermal design power (TDP) of chips, traditional air-cooling methods are struggling to meet the cooling requirements of modern hyperscale data centers. As a result, liquid cooling has emerged as a promising solution due to the high specific heat capacity of liquids.

Thursday 10 August - Introduction to the hydrogen economy and hydrogen's market drivers; Overview of low-carbon hydrogen production; Hydrogen storage & distribution pathways, players and applications; Overview and comparison of hydrogen end-use sectors and fuel cells; Outlook on the hydrogen economy

Thursday 20 July 2023 - Navigating the Liquid Cooling Dominance in Data Centers - An IDTechEx Roadmap; Air cooling: An overview of the traditional air-cooling approach and its benefits and limitations; Direct-to-chip/Cold Plate Cooling: An exploration of cooling methods that involve direct contact between the cooling medium and the chips or the use of cold plates; Immersion cooling: An examination of cooling techniques that utilize immersion of servers or components in dielectric fluids; Coolant comparison and regulations: A comparison of different coolants used in liquid cooling systems, along with relevant regulations; Single-phase and two-phase cooling: An analysis of single-phase and two-phase cooling methods and their applications in data centers; Thermal interface materials (TIMs): An overview of the importance of thermal interface materials in efficient heat transfer within cooling systems.

Healthcare-associated infections (HAI), also known as hospital-acquired infections, are a major problem healthcare systems face worldwide. Each year, millions of patients contract infectious diseases while in hospital.

Thursday 27 July 2023 - Surging Demand for Lithium-Ion Batteries Driving the Carbon Nanotube Market. 10-year market outlook for CNTs; Analysis of CNT usage in the energy storage industry, including technology trends in LiBs and next generation batteries; Overview of other key applications; Discussion of key players and supply chain pain points; Emerging technologies incl. green feedstock

A medida que el mundo avanza rápidamente hacia la electrificación, la industria de almacenamiento de energía depende cada vez más de materias primas críticas como el litio y el cobalto. a diversificación de las químicas de las baterías es fundamental para el crecimiento de la capacidad a largo plazo.

There is no denying that silicon carbide (SiC) MOSFETs are the story of the next decade for electric vehicle power electronics. The material improves powertrain efficiency (EV range), operates at higher voltages for faster charging, and creates new materials opportunities, such as Ag or Cu sintering, as power densities and operational temperatures increase.

The hydrogen economy envisions a future energy infrastructure where low-carbon hydrogen is utilized to decarbonize critical industrial sectors and long-haul transportation while satisfying the increasing demand for low-carbon energy.

The energy storage market is booming, driven predominantly by the electrification of the transportation sector. With the increasing demand for lithium-ion batteries (LiB), significant attention has been given to the supply chain of materials for LiBs beyond lithium itself. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are gaining traction as a conductive additive at the cathode of LiBs, paving the way for significant expansion in the CNT market.

In a recently published article, AI and Security: Ensuring That Opportunities Outweigh the Threats, IDTechEx discussed the importance of ownership and culpability when it comes to deploying AI tools, especially in the context of creative works. This matter of accountability and the potential insidious use of artificial intelligence in the creation of intellectual property is a theme touched on in the first episode of the new Black Mirror season, "Joan Is Awful".

For many decades there has been an extensive amount of materials science R&D focussed on developing next-generation gas separation membranes. However, to date, the market is still dominated by those polymeric materials that initially gained commercial adoption in the late 20th century.

Thursday 13 July 2023 - Electric Motors for EVs: Technology, Material, and Market Evolution. Current market landscape for electric motor technologies; Market drivers behind alternative materials; Methods to reduce or eliminate rare earths for both magnet free and permanent magnet motor designs; An update on the market progress of emerging motor technologies including axial flux, in-wheel, and modern switched reluctance motors; An outlook for the future of the electric motor technology

Following several decades of research and development, fuel cells are beginning to enable the promise of low-emission power generation, with specific success seen for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC).

The success of electric vehicles in the construction industry will largely be determined by battery prices being low enough that the total cost of ownership is cheaper than diesel alternatives.

This is a data-centric world. The growing amount of data generated in various industries increasingly drives the demand for high-bandwidth computing. Applications such as machine learning and AI require powerful processing capabilities, leading to the need for dense transistor placement on chips and compact interconnection bump pitches in packaging.

Anyone with access to social media platforms will likely have heard of ChatGPT by now. Created by OpenAI and released in November 2022, the generative AI tool had 100 million registered users as of three months after release, with it - the world's most advanced chatbot - being used to answer simple queries, write songs, and draft press releases, all with varying degrees of success.

By taking advantage of assembly line production, SMRs promise cost reductions and shorter construction times relative to their conventional counterparts. The first nuclear small modular reactors (SMRs) are already operational in Russia and China, but widening adoption will require both technical and regulatory developments, including development in fuel supply chains and international licensing standardization.

In this complimentary whitepaper, Dr Tess Skyrme outlines the specific applications for quantum computing within the automotive industry.

Wednesday 12 July 2023 - An introduction to printed and flexible electronics, including motivating factors; Assessment of product-market fit across the application space, including discussion of use cases seeing most commercial traction; A selection of recent innovations, spanning materials, components, and manufacturing methods; A roadmap for how the industry will develop, spanning both technologies and applications

En la mayoría de los sectores de vehículos eléctricos terrestres analizados por IDTechEx, se prevé una transición a sistemas de propulsión eléctrica por baterías en las próximas dos décadas. El caso no es tan sencillo en el sector marítimo: debido a la enorme escala de los requisitos de potencia, energía y distancia de los buques mercantes, la reducción de las emisiones marítimas requerirá soluciones que van desde los sistemas de baterías gigantes de iones de litio hasta las pilas de combustible ecológicas de hidrógeno y otros combustibles alternativos.

During the past few years, the global electric vehicle (EV) industry has experienced tremendous growth. Total global electric vehicle sales went from approximately 3.1 million in 2020 to over 9 million in 2022.

Thursday 6 July 2023 - Drivers and constraints of Li-ion battery recycling; Value chain and economics of Li-ion battery recycling; Policies and regulation overview in different regions; Technologies used in this market, including hydrometallurgy, pyrometallurgy and direct recycling; Introduction to market analysis and future global recycling facility expansions

The cultured meat industry passed a key milestone in June 2023 - two companies, GOOD Meat and UPSIDE Foods, received approval to begin the commercialization of their cultivated chicken products in the USA.

Walk around the aisles of a local shop: aside from the prices, little has changed since the introduction of the bar code in the 1970s. While customers have smartphones in their pockets and there are sophisticated inventory management systems in the background, the digital revolution has yet to alter the packaging of most consumer items.

Sony recently announced 'Project Q', comprising the development of a hand-held PlayStation and corresponding high-end earbuds. The inclusion of earbuds initially seems surprising since headphones and earphones are amongst the most mature in the near hundred billion-dollar wearables market.

Wednesday 5 July 2023 - Learnings From the COVID-19 Pandemic. What are the key antimicrobial technologies on the market today? What are the key applications for antimicrobial technologies, and what are the drivers? How do antimicrobial technologies work? How do they provide residual protection against microorganisms? What product and market trends were observed during the COVID-19 pandemic? What can we expect in the next global pandemic?

Electric traction motors may have originally been developed in the 1800s, but the market continues to evolve today, with the growing electric vehicle (EV) market providing new technologies, opportunities, and demand.

En los últimos 16 años, la potencia de diseño térmico (TDP) de las GPU se ha cuadruplicado. Con la creciente demanda de IA, computación en la nube y minería de criptomonedas, IDTechEx espera que el consumo de energía de las placas de servidor y los centros de datos siga aumentando.

Energy density of EV batteries continues to increase, but the innovation is not just limited to the battery cells. Much of the improvement is also coming from how the cells are packaged together.

Computer chips have been part of cars for a long time, but no one really cares about them until they stop working or they are late to the production line, grinding manufacturing to an industry-shaking halt

IDTechEx have recently published the market research report "Antiviral and Antimicrobial Technology Market 2023-2033", covering additives and coatings that can provide residual antimicrobial protection to surfaces.

¿Qué tienen en común los parches electrónicos para la piel, la energía fotovoltaica flexible de película fina y las consolas interiores de los automóviles? Todos ellos se fabrican con electrónica impresa y flexible, un enfoque alternativo a las placas de circuito impreso convencionales que combina la fabricación aditiva con sustratos flexibles.