Conductive Inks Market Trends

Growth Drivers

• Development of stretchable biosensors: Stretchable electronics and biosensors have demonstrated tremendous potential in advanced diagnostics, wearable healthcare, soft robotics, and persistent human-machine user interfaces. Screen printing is a high-throughput and mature printing method. Furthermore, innovations in intrinsically stretchable conductive nanomaterial inks have enabled advanced wearable design.  In July 2022, HydroGraph Clean Power Inc. launched its graphene ink, offering non-toxicity and optical transparency.  This development marks a milestone toward affordable and foldable wearable electronics production. The company seeks to venture into the biosensor, touchscreen displays, RFID tags, and EV battery segments.
• Emergence of carbon capture: In light of concerns about the rising carbon footprint, the market dynamics have shifted to adopting sustainable industrial processes, including carbon capture and storage (CCS). According to the Congressional Budget Office, the U.S. had 15 carbon capture and storage facilities as of September 2023. Cumulatively, the 15 CCS plants have a capacity of 22 million metric tons of CO2 annually, accounting for 0.4% of the country’s CO2 emission. Most are located in natural gas, ethanol, and fertilizer production facilities for enhanced oil recovery and ink companies.
  
  Federal financial support for CCS comprised of the 2021 Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act that facilitated USD 8.2 billion in advance appropriations for the 2022-2026 period and the 2022 reconciliation act expanded the 45Q credit section significantly. Moreover, the federal government in collaboration with the DOE, subsidizes the CCS technology through funding and grants to limit the capturing and storing costs of CO2. Presently, CCS plants with a collective 134 million tons yearly capacity are being developed or are under construction. Once all the facilities become operational, the country’s total CO2 capture capacity is expected to reach 156 million tons annually- a sevenfold rise from the current scenario.
  
  In terms of carbon trade, the global value was USD 7.16 billion, with an export growth rate of 35.8% between 2021 and 2022. The top exporters of carbon blacks and other carbon forms constituted China (USD 1.45 billion), Russia (USD 961 million), Germany (USD 527 million), Poland (USD 455 million), and South Korea (USD 425 million). Integration of sustainable raw material procurement and subsequent skyrocketing carbon black trade are propelling the conductive inks market proliferation.

Challenges

• Technological limitations and manufacturing challenges: Though the conductive inks are rapidly gaining traction, performance issues such as conductivity, adhesion problems, and degradation over time can hamper the overall adoption. Moreover, printed electronics require specialized printing techniques that can make mass production complex and add up to the total costs.