Photovoltaics is now a key enabling technology for land solar vehicles and boats. The favourite type is single crystal silicon which is even viable on the sides now. On boats, it used to be protected by an acrylic sheet on either side, making it bendable when being fitted, but that has strength and weathering issues. Now, much stronger, long-life polycarbonate is taking over. For further information, see the IDTechEx report, ‘Solar Vehicles...

As increasing numbers of devices gain electronic functionality, many new applications will require some sort of display. This growth in functional, wirelessly connected devices is an exciting technological transition that could radically reshape how we interact with previously inanimate objects. The opportunities are especially pronounced for low-cost displays that can be incorporated into cheap and even disposable products.

6G Communications will become one of the largest technology investments. It is currently in the healthy first stage and is promising to widely deploy by around 2030. Meanwhile, 5G to ‘Beyond 5G’ awaits.

6G communications is planned to be strongly deployed from 2030. The multibillion-dollar investments in its research have begun. IDTechEx has been first with a commercial appraisal that concentrates on the important hardware, '6G Communications Market, Devices, Materials 2021-2041'.

Traction batteries are the key to electric vehicles (EVs) and present very different material requirements to the combustion engines they help replace. Their meteoric rise will lead to much greater demand for several materials markets which otherwise would see only modest growth.

Many of the world's largest aerospace and automotive companies are ramping up their interest in electric Vertical Take-Off and Landing (eVTOL) aircraft, recognising their potential as a disruptive new transport mode. Toyota, for example have invested nearly $400m in eVTOL startup Joby Aviation whilst Hyundai have announced they are spending $1.5bn over five-years on developing urban air mobility operations. 

Additively manufactured electronics is an emerging approach that takes printed electronics into the third dimension. Printing both structural material and conductive traces offers benefits that include extensive design freedom, rapid development iterations, and more compact devices.

The global fleet of Electric Vehicles (EVs) surpassed 10 million in 2020 in a show of remarkable resiliency to the COVID-19 pandemic which devastated the overall auto market. The conventional wisdom is that, with more consumer price sensitivity amid job losses and recession, sales of EVs not yet at upfront cost parity suffer.

Microorganisms are everywhere. Invisible to the naked eye, they live on our skin, in our gut, and are abundant in the environment around us. While the majority of microorganisms are benign, there are those that humans want to combat - for example, those with the potential to cause life-threatening diseases.

Drone sensors are critical to wider drone adoption. IDTechEx has forecast that the market for drone sensors will be greater than $2.9bn by 2031, according to their recent market research report ‘Drone Market and Industries 2021-2041’.

Growth in global energy consumption has caused CO2 and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to rise, in turn causing an increase in average global temperatures. The combustion of fossil fuels including coal, oil, and natural gas, has been a key driver behind this, providing the underlying driver for the production and use of non-fossil alternative fuels that can help reduce emissions.

Whilst electrification of the passenger car market attracts many of the headlines, commercial vehicle markets, spanning delivery vans, medium-duty trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and buses are also evolving at pace.

Given the exciting properties, graphene has always been linked as a revolutionary material for the electronics industry. CVD graphene is cited as the ideal solution in providing a perfect single layer produced in a low cost continuous R2R process, but the manufacturing and commercial reality have proved very different. After a long period of research, and with players regularly exiting and entering the field, we are only now starting to see this ...

Solar vehicles and boats are now mainstream, some never plugging in. The technology of the most advanced ones is being licensed to others, a robot shuttle being next up. 

Printed and flexible electronics spans a vast array of applications, ranging from OLED displays to electronic skin patches. This breadth creates a substantial market for sophisticated materials, such as organic semiconductors, stretchable conductive inks, and innovative component attachment materials.

Printing solar panels like newsprint using organic semiconductors is the longstanding aspiration, given the obvious benefits of renewable energy and the potential for low-cost, large-area, energy-efficient production. However, despite attempts by Konarka and others, commercialising organic photovoltaic (OPV) panels has previously proved challenging.

3D printing offers an efficient method to improve current manufacturing limits across economic sectors such as transport, construction, and medical and dental industries allowing rapid prototyping and on-site production and repairs. Progress in 3D printer development has led to faster, larger, and more accurate printers, but these require more functional materials.

In 2017, after four years of setbacks and crashes, Alphabet shut its project flying solar-powered fixed-wing drones in the upper atmosphere to beam the internet to those cut-off. Facebook then exited its similar project, but the Chinese aerospace industry, Airbus, Boeing, and NASA are progressing them very well.

The Electric Vehicle (EV) market is evolving, not just in size but also in technology. Each year we see an increase in the energy density of EV batteries. This advancement comes from two avenues, improvements to cell energy density through advancements like the cathode chemistry, but also from pack-level weight reduction.

The electric truck market in the US is primed for huge growth. Having largely lagged behind China and Europe in electric commercial vehicle deployment, the transition to zero-emission vehicles in this sector now seems set to begin in earnest. The IDTechEx report, 'Electric Truck Markets 2021-2041' contains twenty-year regional forecasts for the battery electric and fuel cell truck markets.