According to a new report from NanoMarkets, the market for electronic inks and related substrate materials used in manufacturing printed electronics is expected to grow to $7.7 billion by 2012. The firm also notes that with several firms gearing up to enter full-scale production mode in 2007 and 2008, the printed electronics business is moving into a new and exciting phase.

Findings from this report include:

• Silver inks go nano: Nanoparticulate silver inks bring numerous benefits including improved conductivity, lower temperature curing and the printing of finer lines, but at a price premium. NanoMarkets expects that premium to gradually erode leading to strong growth in the nanosilver market, which is expected to reach almost $900 million by 2014.
• Innovations expected in polymer inks: Organic LEDs and transistors are becoming key enablers of the latest in IT including mobile video, flexible displays and RFID. These applications are driving the market for polymer inks which are expected to reach $1.7 billion by 2014. However, NanoMarkets expects that such revenues will only be achievable through new polymer materials that offer improved mobility, high room temperature stability, tunable conductivity and greater ability to serve in outdoor applications.
• Just one word, plastics: Plastic will dominate the substrate market, generating $7.7 billion in revenues by 2014. Today, no other kind of material is so suitable for flexible products and roll-to-roll production processes at such a low price. Although several kinds of plastic including PET and other materials that offer curing advantages are being used, things look especially good for PEN because of its greater dimensional and thermal stability.

The new NanoMarkets report, "Opportunities in Materials for Printable Electronics: 2007 & Beyond" forecasts and analyzes the markets for a wide variety of materials and inks used in printable electronics. In addition to polymer and silver inks, the report also discusses a wide variety of emerging inks including those based on nickel, copper, gold, small molecules, silicon, carbon nanotubes, etc. Also covered are the future of paper, board, glass and metal foil as substrates for PE. The report discusses the strategies of leading suppliers in the PE materials space including Air Products, BASF, Chevron, Dow Corning, National Starch Nippon Steel Chemical, Siemens, Sumitomo, Sun Chemical, and Weyerhaeuser, as well as such VC-backed firms as Five Star Technologies, NanoDynamics, NovaCentrix, Parelec, Plextronics and Vitex Systems. www.nanomarkets.net