Transparent conductor markets 2010: ITO and the alternatives

Factiva: "After years of playing second fiddle to indium tin oxide, ITO, alternative transparent conductors have reached their market takeoff point, according to NanoMarkets, an industry analyst firm that tracks the transparent conductor market. The report titled, Transparent Conductor Markets 2010: ITO and the Alternatives says that while alternative transparent conductors will account for just 5% of transparent conductor revenues in 2010, by 2015 that share will have grown to almost 20%. According to NanoMarkets latest projections, the entire transparent conductor market (including ITO) will be worth $5.6 bn in 2015. Thin-film photovoltaics (TFPV) manufacturers have moved away from ITO and won't be coming back. Other transparent conducting oxides (TCOs) will increasingly substitute for ITO in this application creating a cost-driven market for TCOs that was largely unanticipated a few years back. By 2015, NanoMarkets expects the non-ITO TCO market to reach $320 M, three times what it is today."

Manufacturers of thin-film silicon PV are expected to move away from ITO en masse as a way of keeping their panels competitive with other more efficient types of photovoltaics. Cambrios and Cima NanoTech have pioneered a new type of transparent conductive inks consisting of a suspension of silver nanowires. By 2015, NanoMarkets projections show transparent nanosilver inks producing $370 M in revenues making it the largest single category of alternative transparent conductor. While, alternatives to ITO will grow rapidly, NanoMarkets still expects ITO to dominate the transparent conductor market for years to come. Sales of ITO are expected to reach $4.5 bn by 2015. Initially, the use of ITO will be motivated by short-term concerns about disrupting existing processes or reduce existing economies of scale. However, increasingly ITO will be used only when the highest visual quality and brightness is required. In this new report NanoMarkets analyzes the transparent conductor market, covering ITO, ITO inks, other TCOs, organic conductors, transparent nanotube and graphene coatings and nano-metallic coatings. The report examines how each of these materials fits into the current and future requirements for a broad variety products including flat panel displays, e-paper and flexible displays, touch-screen displays, OLED lighting, thin-film and organic PV and EMI/RFI coatings. It includes eight-year volume and value forecasts of ITO and ITO alternatives as well as a discussion of strategies for market success in this market. Companies mentioned in this report include Agfa, AimCoreApple, and Applied Vacuum Coating.