Research Articles

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

As the world progresses rapidly towards electrification, the energy storage industry is increasingly reliant on critical raw materials such as lithium and cobalt. Diversification of battery chemistries is critical for long-term capacity growth.

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

Across the land-based electric vehicle sectors tracked by IDTechEx, there is mostly a transition to battery-electric propulsion systems over the next two decades.

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.

Over the past 16 years, the thermal design power (TDP) of GPUs has quadrupled. With the increasing demand for AI, cloud computing, and crypto mining, IDTechEx expects the power consumption of server boards and data centers to continue rising.

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.

What do electronic skin patches, thin-film flexible photovoltaics and automotive interior consoles have in common? All are produced using printed & flexible electronics, an alternative approach to conventional printed circuit boards that combines additive manufacturing with flexible substrates.

Wednesday 28 June - Where Metamaterials Meet Tele-Communications. What is a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS), and why are they likely to be needed for high frequency telecommunications.; The different types of RIS (passive, semi-passive, active) and where they are likely to be deployed; Manufacturing processes and materials required for RIS production.

Li-ion batteries dominate the electric vehicles (EV), consumer electronics and stationary energy storage markets. However, the sustainability of these batteries through their entire lifecycle must be managed, including at End-of-Life (EOL). IDTechEx's new report, "Li-ion Battery Recycling Market 2023-2043", finds that an estimated 23.8 million tonnes of lithium-ion batteries will be recycled in 2043.

In 2022, Walmart made a momentous announcement that sent ripples through the RFID industry. As the world's leading retailer, Walmart revealed its ambitious plan to expand the utilization of RFID technology beyond retail apparel and encompass other critical retail departments.

Thursday 22 June 2023 - Gas Separation Membranes: Decarbonization Driving New Market Opportunities. Overview of the technical advantages, history, and limitations of gas separation membranes; Technology appraisal of incumbent and emerging membrane materials; Market analysis of the emerging application areas including biogas upgrading, carbon capture, and the hydrogen infrastructure; For each market, a comparison against alternative separation techniques (e.g., PSA or cryogenic) and discussion on pain points and technical requirements; Independent outlook and technology roadmap for the commercial penetration of membranes in the fields of energy and decarbonization

Anyone who has used a 'smart lens' app on their smartphone is familiar with machine vision. Rather than simply reproducing and storing a picture for later viewing, machine vision applies an image processing algorithm to obtain additional insight, such as locating edges or object identification.

Battery performance testing forms an important part of the second-life EV battery market. Remanufacturers will aim to use the best-performing EV batteries in their final second-life systems, such as stationary storage systems or lower-power electromobility applications.

On June 5th, Apple ended years of speculation and finally announced a mixed reality (MR) headset. The US$3499 Vision Pro headset confirmed some expectations and confounded others. IDTechEx has been tracking the mixed, augmented and virtual reality markets since 2015, with reports on headsets and accessories and optics available now and a report on displays for AR/VR soon to be released. This insight into the AR/VR industry and associated technologies provides context to IDTechEx's initial analysis of Apple's headset design philosophy.