NanoMarkets

Published September 2011

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New Opportunities in Conductive Coatings Markets A NanoMarkets White Paper

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Entire contents copyright NanoMarkets, LC. The information contained in this report is based on the best information available to us, but accuracy and completeness cannot be guaranteed. NanoMarkets, LC and its author(s) shall not stand liable for possible errors of fact or judgment. The information in this report is for the exclusive use of representative purchasing companies and may be used only by personnel at the purchasing site per sales agreement terms. Reproduction in whole or in any part is prohibited, except with the express written permission of NanoMarkets, LC.

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Significant Opportunities Opening Up for Conductive Coatings

While much of the conductive coatings market involves mature applications and materials,

NanoMarkets also believes that there are growing number of newer opportunities for conductive

coatings as new types of batteries, displays, lighting and solar panels that are begin to appear on the

market. These newer product types will require entirely new conductive materials for their electrodes.

NanoMarkets, a leading provider of market research and analysis of the opportunities in advanced

materials and emerging energy and electronics markets, estimates that the value of the conductive

coatings market will reach $14.8 billion in 2017.

Not Just Metals Anymore

Traditionally, and for obvious reasons, conductive coatings have been metals. The major exception to

this rule is where the coating has had to be transparent as well as conductive, as in the display and

thin-film solar panel industry. In such cases, transparent conductive (metal) oxides (TCOs) have been

used, with indium tin oxide (ITO) the leading material because of its relative good tradeoff between

transparency and conductivity; although the most recently evolved thin-film PV technologies have

used aluminum zinc oxide (AZO) and fluorine zinc oxide (FTO).

Much bigger than these trends we believe in terms of generating new business revenues for the

conductive coatings industry is the use of nanomaterials and conductive polymers in commercial

conductive coatings. Trends in the electronics industry, particularly miniaturization and the ubiquity of

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Conductive Coatings Markets: Materials

Nanomaterials and hybrids

Polymers

Metallic compounds

Metals and conventional carbon

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wireless communications are also providing opportunities for firms in the bulk conductive coatings

space.

Generally, low-cost manufacturing techniques can be employed for producing conductive coatings,

including evaporation, solution-processing and thermal transfer. Printing processes, such as inkjet,

flexo, and gravure printing are also growing in importance. Sputtering, physical vapor deposition

(PVD), chemical vapor deposition (CVD) and atomic layer deposition (ALD) are employed in various

applications requiring thin film formation.

More Material Options

The materials used to form conductive coatings fall into four categories: metals, metal oxides,

conductive polymers, and nanomaterials. Metallic coatings exhibit the highest conductivity,

particularly in nanomaterial form, and according to NanoMarkets’ analysis will account for nearly half

of sales in 2017. Metallic oxides, which will make up the second largest category in 2017 based on

value, are generally orders of magnitude less conductive than metals, but are often useful because

they are transparent. Conductive plastics are also far less conductive than metals and thus will only

account for less than 5% of sales in 2017 (3.7%), but offer greater flexibility and lower cost.

Nanomaterials, which also include metals and metal oxides, are a newer category and technology, but

of growing importance, and will account for nearly 10% of sales in 2017.

Metals: Of the common metals used in conductive coatings, silver is, of course, the most conductive

and is widely used for electrodes, but it is relatively expensive and – as we are seeing all too clearly at

the present time -- its price can fluctuate with changes in the world financial markets. Coatings tend to

use very small amounts of silver. But when the price of silver is as high as it is now, cost can still make

a difference.

Still the silver coatings business is protected from substitutions by the fact that alternatives to silver

have some pretty serious issues of their own, so the switching costs involved for users who want to

move away from silver can be quite significant. Copper and aluminum are the obvious substitutes, but

they have handling, performance and corrosion problems that must be coped with. Despite its

expense and price fluctuations, gold is used for gold plating of contacts in high-end video equipment

and implants for humans and animals (due to its inertness), but gold coatings are never going to be

where users of silver coatings are going to be headed when they want to abandon silver. Carbon-

based inks are used where maximum conductivity is not a critical requirement.

NanoMarkets expects demand for alloys and other metal derivatives to increase as the prices of

common metals used in conductive coatings rise. Combinations such as silver-plated copper or silver

and carbon can reduce the cost of thick-film pastes or increase conductivity without reducing

transparency. Organometallic compounds have been used in antistatic coatings, printed circuits, EMI

shielding and ink jet applications.

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Metallic oxides: Although metallic oxides are not as conductive as metals, they still are widely used as

conductive coatings, either because of their lower cost or their transparency. The fragility and cost of

ITO (which depends on the price of indium), however, are significant limitations of the material and

are providing incentive for development of ITO alternatives, although manufacturing improvements

still present an opportunity to achieve cost reductions. And, as we have already noted, in certain

applications, other TCOs offer superior cost/performance ratios to ITO. We have already mentioned

AZO and FTO for use in thin-film PV panels. Indium zinc oxide also has a fragile share of the display

market, mainly because of its use at Samsung.

And despite its issues, NanoMarkets expects ITO to continue to dominate the high-end transparent

conductor market for a long time to come.

Conductive Polymers: Conductive polymers of interest include derivatives of polyaniline, polypyrrole

and polythiophene, as they are commercially available in sufficient quantities, are stable in air and

easy to apply. Because they can be transparent and have flexibility, conductive polymers are being

evaluated as possible ITO replacements in touch screens and flexible displays. Other potential

applications include smart windows, smart fabrics and sensors, which, to return to our remarks at the

beginning of this article, are all expected to be growth applications over the next decade. Still, despite

their commercial potential, we should note that conductive polymers show relatively low conductivity,

and thus they have limited use for high-performance applications.

The most well known conductive polymer - PEDOT: PSS – is doped poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene)

(PEDOT). It is offered as a water-based dispersion of submicron-size gel particles of the polymer that

form continuous, transparent films upon drying. It has traditionally found its widest use in application

in antistatic coatings, but it is encouraging to see it creep into other applications in supercapacitors,

OLEDs and as an ITO substitute for displays that do not need very high-performing electrode materials.

Other conducting polymers include polyselenophene (PEDOS), the selenium analog of PEDOT and 3,4-

phenylenedioxythiophene (PheDOT).

Nanomaterials: Compared with the other materials used in conductive coatings, nanomaterials are at

an earlier stage of technological and commercial development and therefore have the potential to

make a leap forward in performance and price.

NanoMarkets believes that it would be hard to overestimate the potential that nanomaterials have for

transforming the conductive coatings industry in terms of the performance improvements in the

coatings and hence in terms of expanding the addressable markets for these coatings. Coatings,

pastes and inks made with nanomaterials can be more conductive due to the increased physical

contact between the much smaller particles. Nanocoatings can also potentially be thinner than other

kinds of coatings and may dry faster.

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The greatest potential impact for nanomaterial-based coatings is perhaps as functional inks and

pastes, especially nanosilver inks, in high-end transparent conductive coatings. Nanomaterials may

also be used to develop conductive coatings for electrodes in next-generation applications that require

higher conductivity, lower processing costs and other performance features that only nanomaterials

can provide.

Not surprisingly, nanosilver is the most common nanomaterial being developed, but products with

nanocopper and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are also being produced, and coatings containing graphene

or non-carbon nanostructures are at the research stage. Carbon nanotube coatings can be made

transparent and are very strong and flexible. NanoMarkets believes they represent one of the best

material options for providing an alternative to costly, brittle ITO films. Not only is their long-term

potential for low cost attractive, but their flexibility makes them ideal for the growing number of

flexible electronics applications.

The Three Key Markets for Conductive Coatings

As part of its ongoing analysis of the conductive coatings market, NanoMarkets has identified three

general areas of opportunity for conductive coatings: (1) coatings for electrodes, (2) antistatic coatings

and (3) EMI/RFI shielding materials.

Coatings for electrodes: The most important emerging opportunities for conductive coatings are in

contacts and electrodes for new types of electronics, optical devices, batteries and photovoltaic

panels. Traditional thick-film markets largely rely on inks/pastes of silver, but copper, nickel, gold and

carbon and their mixtures are available and are used as conductivity and price dictate. In this segment,

printed circuit boards (PCBs) and capacitors present the greatest opportunities.

Antistatic coatings: This segment is divided into chip bags, protective clothing, and general antistatic

coatings used mainly for optical applications. While it is mature, it is receiving attention for several

reasons. As the features on electronic devices become ever smaller, they require greater protection

from static electricity and thus higher performing electrostatic discharge (ESD) coatings. NanoMarkets

therefore expects growth for ESDs in chip assembly, displays (particularly for flexible systems), thin-

film photovoltaics (PV) and organic light emitting diode (OLED) lighting applications. Antistatic coatings

for packaging and industrial clothing are also likely to see something of a boom as the concern about

damage from static electricity and vagrant currents becomes more important.

Many antistatic coating applications are more influenced by cost factors than by technical

performance, but there are also applications where performance (transparency) dominates other

factors. Tin oxide, for example, is often preferred for window coatings. Inherently flexible polymers

including polyether block amides are ideal for ESD applications in flexible packaging and related areas.

Conductive polymers also find use in ESD protection systems for cleanroom environments.

EMI/RFI shielding materials: Electromagnetic interference (EMI) and radio frequency interference

(RFI) shielding materials is also another mature market, but opportunities for conductive coatings are

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growing as computing and communications shift to wireless operation. In fact, NanoMarkets believes

that there are now many market sectors where EMI/RFI problems have shifted from being serious to

being critical. As a result, substantial markets will be found in radio communications that use high-

frequency (i.e., GHz) radio waves, for improved EMI/RFI shielding in areas where unimpeded operation

is vital and where system failures can cost lives, in consumer electronics (particularly displays),

automotive electronic systems and in appliances with increasing electronic complexity.

Because many of the newer applications in which electromagnetic compatibility (EMC) issues arise are

highly cost sensitive, cost is a critical factor in choosing conductive coating materials. Metals are

generally the first choice of materials for EMI/RFI shielding because of their ability to behave with

either high strength or ductility or both. Conductive polymers and elastomers also find use in EMI/RFI

applications, particularly because of their inherent flexibility, which makes them ideal for use on

flexible or irregularly shaped surfaces and gasketing.

And New Applications Too

Given the various functionalities that conductive coatings impart, it is not surprising that they find use

in a large number of different applications.

Batteries: Conductive coatings in batteries provide two kinds of functionality: they are used as a core

material in thin-film and printed batteries and in some batteries they can serve as a protective material

that increases performance and/or enables the use of more aggressive chemistries.

NanoMarkets believes that there are at least three sectors of the battery market where innovative

coatings products have opportunities for growth: electric vehicles, where higher performance and the

need to satisfy environmental concerns are paramount; mobile computing and communications

devices, where improved time-between-charges is a key competitive factor; small devices such as

sensors, RFID tags, and credit cards, where thinness and flexibility are key.

In general, these applications make use of lithium batteries, and thus any new applications for

conductive coatings in lithium batteries could eventually represent sizeable opportunities, because the

volumes of lithium batteries shipped are already large and likely to continue to grow. Thin-film and

printable batteries are a specialized form of lithium battery with greatest potential for future high

volume use in powered smartcards and battery-assisted RFID tags and current smaller volume

application in medical/cosmetic patches and implants.

Finally, NanoMarkets sees the battery market as a good market for novel nanocoatings, which seem

likely to produce higher performance batteries if packing densities of the electrodes can be improved.

Fuel Cells: Conductive coatings are used in fuel cell applications for acid corrosion protection and

electrical conductivity enhancement of bipolar metal plates in much the same way that they are in

batteries, however, fuel cells remain in the early development stage. Most coatings are metallic

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(platinum, palladium, or ferrous nanopowder) and are applied to the electrodes to act as a catalyst. In

the future, carbon nanotube coatings may have an important role to play in fuel cells.

Photovoltaics: Conductive coatings are used for the contacts and as reflecting layers on various types

of solar panels. The most stable part of this market is the top electrode for c-Si PV, which invariably

uses screened silver for the front electrode and silver or more recently, less costly aluminum for the

back electrode. Thin-film PV (TFPV) producers mainly use ITO, as the transparent electrode.

The cost of ITO, however, is driving interest in lower-priced alternatives, including zing and tin oxide

derivatives. Organic (OPV) and dye sensitive cell (DSC) photovoltaics claim niche applications (portable

power, embedded power, and certain building integrated photovoltaics (BIPV)) that NanoMarkets

believes represent a significant source of value and opportunities. For these flexible applications,

conducting polymers, and specifically PEDOT: PSS, appear to be a natural candidate as an ITO

substitute.

Displays: ITO is the major conductive coating used in LCD display applications, which dominate the

display market. Some other TCOs and polymers do find limited application, and silver is used in PDP

displays. The requirements for electrode materials are also shifting, however, as next-generation

displays (e-paper, OLEDs, touchscreens, etc.) begin to take significant shares of the display business.

NanoMarkets therefore believes that nanomaterials have a big breakthrough potential in this segment.

Solid-State Lighting: The phasing out of incandescent lighting across the developed world has

intensified the interest in energy-efficient solid-state lighting (SSL), especially that using high-

brightness (inorganic) or organic LEDS. NanoMarkets believes that OLED lighting has very good

prospects for market growth over the next decade. There is significant interest in this sector in

replacing ITO because of the high resistivity of ITO threatens to create brightness variations across

larger lighting surfaces.

Military, National Security and Aerospace: These sectors require high-performance EMC products and

thus are an important market for EMC materials. In addition, military applications are not as

concerned with cost minimization as consumer products are, but size and weight are often critical. This

situation provides an important opportunity for the development, production, and ramp up of newer,

higher-cost materials and products that would otherwise never make it to the marketplace and may

help to achieve the lower costs and reliable performance necessary for broad commercial

implementation.

Other opportunities for EMC materials suppliers include developing materials that are better at

dissipating radar signals and supplying materials for radar stations for air traffic control, weather

monitoring, and military uses.

Sensors: Sensors use almost every commercially available conductive material, but the market is

difficult to assess because it is so fragmented, both in terms of potential customers and the number of

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different applications. Therefore, while the aggregate amount of conductive coating material

consumed by the sensor sector might actually be quite large, it is hard to pinpoint sizeable individual

opportunities.

Potentially significant future applications If RFID ultimately replaces the barcode, volume markets for

RFID tags would be measured in the trillions, but this is unlikely to happen any time soon. For

conductive coatings, RFID antennas are the primary application and typically use thin film silver or

nanosilver.

Smart textiles are fabrics that are interwoven or printed with electronics. The technology remains in its

infancy, with the only measurable use in the military and some medical environments. These products

are mostly made of optical fibers, which are fragile and uncomfortable to wear. Conductive coating

producers are currently developing metallic, conductive polymer, and carbon nanotube-containing

coatings for this application.

Smart windows are coated with conductive films based on metal oxides and sometimes carbon

nanotubes and are used to provide enhanced energy efficiency, indoor comfort and even to create

positive mood effects. In addition, electrochromic materials are coated on glass so that the

transparency changes with the level of sunlight.

For additional details about the NanoMarkets report, Conductive Coatings Markets, 2010 and Beyond

please visit the NanoMarkets website at www.nanomarkets.net or contact us via email at

sales@nanomarkets.net or by phone at 804-270-4370.