The global thin film materials market is poised to record commendable gains in the ensuing years owing to an escalation in research and development activities centered around photovoltaics.
An instance of the same is the deployment of expertise by NREL (National Renewable Energy Laboratory) on the utilization of thin films for the development and enabling of technologically useful applications. A prominent exemplar in the renewable energy sector is photovoltaics (PV).
Over recent years, different types of thin films have become popular as they provide the potential for low-cost processing with the minimal usage of materials in the process of fulfilling application requirements. Thin-film uses comprise applications where mechanical flexibility and low weight are of prime importance.
Driven by these factors, the thin film materials market share is slated to gain remarkable traction through 2027.
This product is expected to witness considerable demand on account of the increasing usage of solar cells and LEDs. In September 2020, Missouri S&T researchers depicted the direct crystallization of highly ordered copper thin films on a one-molecule-thick-layer of organic material instead of inorganic substrates that have been utilized for years. The copper thin films are excellent candidates for utilization as underlying substances for high-temperature superconductors.
In addition, thin-film materials will record a high demand in Europe owing to the robust adoption of artificial lighting such as LEDs for the improvement of crop performance, particularly in northern Europe. The regional growth is driven by the surging installation of PV panels in Germany for greater energy independence.
Surging product development initiatives
Numerous industry participants and organizations are taking a keen interest in the adoption of strategic initiatives such as mergers, acquisitions, collaborations, partnerships, and product developments for boosting the penetration across several thin films applications. Few instances of the same are mentioned below:
-In April 2021, scientists evolved a method for turning X-ray fluorescence into an ultra-high position-sensitive probe for the measurement of nanostructures, which are tiny internal structures, in thin films. These nanostructured films form an essential component of numerous light-related and electronic technologies.
-In October 2020, a research group from the NIMS-University of Tokyo, formulated a machine learning technique that can be deployed for expediting the process of ascertaining optimal conditions for the fabrication of high-quality thin films. The method reduces the number of material samples that require up to 90% evaluation in comparison to the presently available methods of thin-film fabrication.
-In December 2019, scientists developed thin films produced from BaZrS3 (barium zirconium sulfide). The films integrate good charge transport with exceptionally strong light absorption, which makes them ideal for use in LEDs and photovoltaics.
-In April 2019, das-Nano was granted U.S. patent for its quality inspection of Onyx, a thin film materials device. The product has been designed for calculating indicative parameters of the quality of thin-film materials on the basis of reflection measurements.
Along with such developments, the industry is characterized by the trend of rising investments towards the launch of similar more initiatives.
In a nutshell, increasing product application on account of various advantages of thin-film will bolster the thin-film materials industry landscape over the estimated period.