NanoMarkets Issues Latest Transparent Conductor Market Report

GLEN ALLEN, Va., July 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Industry analyst firm NanoMarkets has released its latest report on the transparent conductor market.  In its new report the firm states that the market opportunities for the transparent conducting oxides, polymers and nanomaterials used in display, photovoltaics and other applications will exceed $6.9 billion in revenues by 2016.  The report notes that while the market will continue to be dominated by Indium Tin Oxide (ITO), transparent conductors based on carbon nanotubes and nanosilver are also expected to see strong growth.  

Additional details about the firm's latest report, "Transparent Conductor Markets - 2011" report can be found at www.nanomarkets.net/market_reports/report/transparent_conductor_markets_2011.  An executive summary is available for viewing on the report's information page.

This new report from NanoMarkets identifies the new business opportunities for transparent conductor materials worldwide.  The materials covered comprise ITO, other transparent conducting oxides, other ITO/TCO inks, carbon nanotube films, nanosilver and other nanometallic films and conductive polymers.  The applications considered are flat-panel displays, OLED displays, e-paper displays, touch-screen sensors, OLED lighting, thin-film photovoltaics, organic PV/DSC, antistatics and EMI/RFI shielding.

Among the firms discussed in this report are Agfa, Cambrios, Canatu,  Carestream, Chasm Technologies, Cima NanoTech, Dow Chemical, Enthone, Ferro, Heraeus, Kodak, Kurt J Lesker, Linde, NanoForge, PolyIC, Samsung, Saint-Gobain, Sigma Technologies, Suzhou NanoGrid Technology, Sumitomo, Toray and Unidym, among many others.

Key findings:

• NanoMarkets is now seeing serious interest among traditional LCD makers in alternatives to ITO and other TCOs.  This is being driven by the need to reduce processing costs in the LCD industry and fears about the rising cost of ITO.  NanoMarkets predicts that ITO alternatives sold into the LCD industry will generate revenues of $690 million by 2016.
• Carbon nanotube inks have lost some of their former market momentum due to ongoing technical issues and silver-based solutions have surpassed them.   NanoMarkets new report predicts that nanosilver-based transparent conductors will achieve more than $540 million in revenues by 2016 ahead of transparent carbon nanotube inks which should still exceed $410 million in that same time period.   NanoMarkets does still expect to see important new entrants in the carbon nanotube transparent conductor space in the near future.  
• Despite the opening up of transparent conductor markets to ITO alternatives, NanoMarkets does not see the traditional ITO business as seriously threatened. Indeed, it expects this market to thrive; approximately doubling in size to $5.5 billion in 2016.
• Transparent conductive polymers have already seen significant deployment as an alternative to ITO in touch-screen sensor and e-paper displays.  However, the performance of traditional PEDOT materials seems inherently limited.  Hope for improvements in transparent conductive coatings can be found in nanostructured polymers, PEDOT analogs and improved patterning technologies.

About NanoMarkets:

NanoMarkets tracks and analyzes emerging market opportunities in energy and electronics markets created by developments in advanced materials. It provides regular and comprehensive industry analysis of the transparent conductor space and the firm is recognized as a leading source of expertise for both transparent conductors and nanomaterials more generally. Visit http://www.nanomarkets.net for a full listing of NanoMarkets' reports and other services.

SOURCE NanoMarkets