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

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Decarbonization is the main market driver across the industrial sector. In every roadmap there is an evolving mix of solutions that span the technology readiness spectrum, each with their own proponents and critics.

What is packaging for? From its initial purpose of simply protecting the product to driving sales via consumer engagement, the role of packaging has substantially evolved. Smart/intelligent packaging continues this trend towards greater functionality, employing sensors, printed electronics, and wireless communication to add value in novel ways.

Advanced semiconductor packaging technologies are crucial due to the slowing of Moore's law and rising costs of monolithic Si IC development and manufacturing. Initially, components were individually packaged and integrated at the PCB board level, but as devices become smaller and require higher processing capabilities, component integration needs to be pushed beyond board level.

Thermal runaway and the associated battery fires have proven to be a critical concern for customers, battery designers, and electric vehicle manufacturers. Many vehicles have experienced battery fires and hundreds of thousands have been recalled.

The RFID industry is expected to maintain its growth trajectory, with IDTechEx forecasting a market value of US$14 billion in 2023, up from US$12.8 billion in 2022. This market value encompasses various RFID form factors, including labels, cards, fobs, and tags, as well as scanners, software, and services for both active and passive RFID technologies. Among these, the "Passive RFID Tags" segment stands out as the largest, comprising more than half of the total RFID market.

Thermal Interface Materials (TIMs) come in different forms, including thermal pads, thermal grease, gap fillers, thermal paste, and thermal gels. Thermal gel and thermal paste, two of the most commonly used forms, have gained significant momentum over the past several years, especially in the EV, data center, and 5G industries.

Smooth, functional surfaces that provide touch sensing, often with backlighting, are becoming increasingly common. Applications range from vehicle interiors and domestic appliances to medical devices and aircraft seating. Rather than relying on a mechanical or membrane switch, these surfaces utilize capacitive touch sensing - the same principle used in smartphone displays.