Advanced Materials

This show had a 15% attendee increase and have stated the exhibitors will be 35% higher for 2018. This article includes documents in which IDTechEx analysts in attendance highlighted some of the key innovations and takeaways from this exhibition and open conference.

Recently, a team of researchers at the developed a "graphene ball," a unique battery material that enables a 45% increase in capacity, and five times faster charging speeds than standard lithium-ion batteries.

Fujitsu Laboratories Ltd announced the successful development of a high-thermal-conductive carbon-nanotube sheet with the world's top heat dissipation performance. The sheet is composed of pure carbon nanotubes, oriented perpendicularly, resulting in exceptional thermal conductivity and heat resistance.

Myant announced a partnership with ZOLL Medical Corporation to develop future generations of their ZOLL LifeVest wearable defibrilator product. This is a summary of the announcement.

Organic conductors are soft materials that conduct electricity. They show promise in inexpensive, lightweight, flexible technologies, including solar cells, printable electronic circuits, and organic light-emitting diodes. More recently, their ability to interact intimately with ions and biomolecules has led to significant interest in bio-integrated electronics, such as implantable medical devices that can monitor or regulate signals inside the human body.

Ceramic Metal Composites (CMC) and Metal Matrix Composites (MMC) are not new concepts, but they have never reached their potential. To date, a wide range of particles and whiskers have been used in these matrices, but the advantages have been questionable, applications limited, and manufacturing challenges difficult.

It is hard to avoid the topic of the automotive sector within the composite industry, but of late there has been a shift in the rhetoric from when the large uptake will happen to whether it will happen at all.

Graphene is a seemingly impossible material. For years, scientists had theorized that lifting a single layer of carbon atoms from a chunk of graphite could produce the first two-dimensional material, which they called graphene.

Unmanned aerial systems, commonly referred to as drones, could help farmers determine if their crop is growing satisfactorily, according to a recent study conducted by University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture researchers.

Meridian Lightweight technologies are the largest magnesium die casting company in the world. IDTechEx analyst Dr Richard Collins interviewed Stephen Brown (Engineering Manager).

IDTechEx Chairman, Dr Peter Harrop, presents his findings on 'Creating Negative Emissions using Hydrokinetic Energy' from the IDTechExShow! Santa Clara 2017.