Research Articles

Microplastics have emerged as a major environmental concern, prompting growing public awareness and increasing regulatory pressure. In response, industries are turning to biodegradable polymer alternatives. In this article, IDTechEx explores whether biodegradable plastics can address microplastic pollution.

Despite six rounds of negotiations to establish a global plastics treaty aimed at curbing plastic pollution, talks reached a stalemate last month. This highlights the urgent need for the development of efficient microplastic capture technologies to tackle microplastic pollution. IDTechEx looks at the emerging technologies to capture and filter microplastics, covering physical, chemical, and biological processes, and the players at the forefront of developing these solutions.

Metal-organic frameworks, more commonly known as MOFs, have been recognized with the 2025 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. The Nobel Prize award recognizes the promise and potential of MOFs, but the question remains over whether MOFs can deliver on the gap between the promise and real-world adoption. IDTechEx Senior Technology Analyst Dr Shababa Selim explains more in this new article.

Incidents such as a suspected battery explosion resulting in the recent fire at South Korea's national data center halting major online government services, bring to the fore the need to minimize the risk of thermal runaway events.

Microplastics have emerged as a major environmental concern, prompting growing public awareness and increasing regulatory pressure. In response, industries are turning to innovative technologies and sustainable alternatives. IDTechEx explores global regulations and cutting-edge solutions shaping the future of this rapidly evolving space.

As metal-organic framework (MOF)-based technologies advance toward commercialization, decarbonization emerges as a key driver of market success. This article by IDTechEx explores how carbon capture, chemical separations, and air cooling and water harvesting are shaping the future of MOFs, fueling a projected 50-fold increase in demand by 2030.

The aerogel market for energy and industrial applications has seen modest growth over the years, growing from US$224M in 2021 to an estimated US$348M in 2025. With increasing focus on energy savings and process efficiencies, this article by IDTechEx looks at how the aerogels market for energy and industrial applications will evolve over the next decade.

Manufacturing challenges and high costs have historically hindered the commercialization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). However, with recent advancements in MOF-based carbon capture technologies and a projected 50-fold increase in demand for MOFs in carbon capture by 2035, this article explores how these innovations are poised to shape the future of MOFs.

Aerogel demand for EV fire protection grew by 15-fold between 2021 and 2024, according to IDTechEx, with key manufacturers shifting towards leveraging the growing aerogel manufacturing capacity in China to meet demand. But, with the US imposing tariffs on China and other global partners, what does this mean for the aerogels market?

Although there have been several unsuccessful attempts to commercialize MOFs historically, the design flexibility and structural versatility of MOFs have attracted widespread interest in numerous applications in recent years, many of which are nearing commercialization. With a projected 30-fold market growth by 2035, this article offers an in-depth look at how MOFs are reshaping the future of carbon capture, water harvesting, chemical and gas separations, and beyond.

Parallel computer architectures, such as those deployed for modern high-performance computing (HPC) and artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, frequently encounter memory bottlenecks that limit performance, known as the 'memory wall'. IDTechEx assesses the key developments and trends in memory and storage technologies, including high-bandwidth memory (HBM), DDR, NAND, and many more.

Since 2020, the emergence of aerogels as a fire protection material for electric vehicle (EV) batteries has provided a new and rapidly growing opportunity for the aerogel market. According to the latest IDTechEx market report, "Aerogels 2025-2035: Technology, Market, Forecasts", the adoption in EV thermal barriers has helped drive the aerogels market to exceed US$1 billion in 2025.

Given helium's critical role in semiconductor production, onshoring chip manufacturing will have a significant knock-on impact on the helium demand for semiconductor manufacturing.

Semiconductor manufacturing processes require many chemicals and specialty gases. Owing to its cryogenic properties, exceptional thermal conductivity, chemical inertness, and high diffusivity, helium is used throughout the semiconductor manufacturing line, particularly for wafer cooling where there are no viable alternatives.

Helium is a finite resource that plays a critical role across several industries including medical imaging, thermal management systems for batteries, aerospace engineering, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, semiconductor manufacturing, fiber optics, particle physics, scientific balloons, and many more.

Owing to their exceptional design flexibility, structural versatility, and high porosity, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are gathering interest for a wide range of applications, such as water harvesting for HVAC, direct lithium extraction, refrigerant reclamation, hydrogen storage, chemical purifications, and many more.

According to IEA's 2023 update to its net zero roadmap, carbon capture technologies, more efficient space cooling equipment, and clean energy transitions are all cornerstones of achieving net zero by 2050 and limiting global warming to 1.5°C. Emerging technologies utilizing metal-organic framework (MOF) materials for carbon capture, refrigerant reclamation, direct lithium extraction, HVAC equipment, and various other chemical separations and purification processes can see the advent of disruptive next-generation technologies that are essential for industrial decarbonization.

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of materials with exceptionally high porosity and surface area (up to 7000m2/g). The design flexibility and structural versatility afforded by MOFs have attracted widespread interest in numerous applications, albeit with several unsuccessful attempts to commercialize the materials historically.