Thursday 3 April 2025 - Understanding the Critical Materials in Lithium-Ion Batteries: Trends in Demand, Supply, and Sustainability; An overview of materials in lithium-ion batteries; Critical battery materials demand trends; Trends in battery mineral mining and extraction; Carbon emission profiles of battery raw materials; Global raw materials supply outlooks; The prospects of deep-sea mining

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.

The automotive industry faces increasing pressure to improve sustainability, with material choice at the forefront of this transformation. With over 14 million tonnes of plastics used in passenger vehicles each year, addressing the sustainability of these materials is critical. Two leading solutions are recycled plastics and bioplastics. But what is the future of sustainable cars?

How electric 2-wheelers (E2Ws) are used and how their batteries are designed is very different from the car market. IDTechEx's report, "Fire Protection Materials for EV Batteries 2025-2035: Markets, Trends, and Forecasts", finds that the market for fire protection materials in E2Ws will grow by 12 times compared to its 2024 size.

The rapid expansion of electrification, enabled by lithium-ion batteries (LIBs), demands urgent actions to secure a stable and responsible supply of critical minerals for LIBs. The growth in battery material demand varies across different materials, driven by several factors including the demand for LIBs of different chemistries, material intensity variations across battery chemistries, and ongoing developments in lithium-ion cell design.

In the last few months, three of the world's largest tech giants made waves with their announcements in quantum computing. But what will the impact of Microsoft's Majorana 1, Google's Willow, and Amazon's Ocelot be once the dust has settled, and is it just big tech making strides in developing quantum computers?

In 2023 alone, semiconductor giant TSMC reported consumption of a staggering 101 million m3 of water, highlighting the scale of thirst in this fast-growing sector. Furthermore, as node technology advances, so do the number of manufacturing process steps, and the usage of single wafer tools instead of batch tools, making the task of reducing water usage both challenging and even more critical.

Thursday 27 March 2025 - Meeting Emerging EV Thermal Runaway Regulations Through Material Choices; An overview of the thermal runaway regulations; Options and examples for fire protection materials in EV batteries; Fire protection material benchmarking; How material choice can aid battery designers; Market share predictions

Thermal filler materials make up a large portion of the formulation for thermal interface materials, and each has its own benefits and disadvantages, including conductivity, cost, and mechanical properties.

Diabetes is a chronic condition that affects millions of people worldwide. The condition requires close and careful management to avoid severe health consequences. Today, people with diabetes have access to sophisticated automated insulin dosing (AID) systems that help in many aspects of diabetes management. IDTechEx forecasts that with further developments in AID systems, the diabetes management market can reach US$44 billion by 2035.

Public awareness of PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) is hitting a new high as headlines concerning "forever chemicals" continue to appear in prominent news outlets. Whether it be news about PFAS bans in different industries, lawsuits against PFAS manufacturers and users, detection of PFAS in various locations and products, and treatment of PFAS in drinking water, there is no doubt that for many, PFAS is one of the foremost health issues of the 2020s.

Thursday 20 March 2025 - PFAS: Changing Regulations and Increasing Scrutiny for Forever Chemicals; PFAS definitions and concerns about PFAS exposure; Regulatory updates impacting PFAS; Impact of regulations on PFAS in sustainable food packaging

The EV revolution is driving demand for a huge variety of materials used in battery cells and packs. With new chemistries emerging to bridge cost and energy density gaps, the landscape is evolving rapidly. However, battery pack designers face complex challenges.

Thursday 6 Match 2025 - Driving Sustainability: Can Automotive Companies Deliver on Sustainable Plastics?; An overview of sustainable automotive plastics; The circular economy for automotive plastics; A summary of other sustainable materials covered in the report including sustainable upholstery, composites, and tire materials; Coverage of the key drivers pushing for sustainable automotive plastics; The key challenges for players in the automotive supply chain; Industry targets for sustainable plastics adoption; Discussion on the progress of adopting sustainable plastics and other polymers into passenger vehicles; IDTechEx's outlook and conclusions

Thursday 27 February - The issues with conventional semiconductor manufacturing and circuit patterning; Barriers and opportunities for sustainable manufacturing processes; The search for green chemicals and PFAS alternatives for semiconductor circuit patterning; The impact of EUV lithography on sustainability; Research focuses and advancements in dry etching

As growing numbers of countries identify critical materials within their economies, the ability to recycle them is becoming increasingly important, especially considering both their economic importance and ongoing supply risks. Sustainability goals rely on growing technology sectors like electric vehicles, which rely on magnets to be manufactured, ultimately meaning sourcing and recycling critical materials is an economic necessity to keep supply chains running.

Quantum computing is growing closer to realizing its full potential, pipe dreams have become tangible five-year plans, and more and more players are earning their own money for the first time. Finally, time will pass quicker than many appreciate in the years ahead - don't blink and miss the quantum computing market grow up, and the chance to leverage its disruptive potential at maturity.

"Forever chemicals", the colloquial term for the family of chemicals known as PFAS, is coming under increasing regulatory pressure globally as concerns over the negative effects of PFAS on human health and the environment are mounting. In this short video, IDTechEx Principal Technology Analyst Sona Dadhania talks through what "forever chemicals" are and why they are having such a global impact.

Electric vehicle (EV) sales continued to increase in 2024, admittedly with some significant regional disparity, but IDTechEx found that globally, EV sales increased 24% in 2024 over 2023. Despite the fact that most data shows EV fires are less common than combustion engine vehicles, safety cannot be overlooked in any rate of occurrence. This article aims to discuss some of the key factors and some of the potential materials that EV battery designers may consider.