Research Articles

Blue hydrogen, produced from natural gas using reforming processes with carbon capture, offers a lower-carbon alternative to grey hydrogen and serves as a transitional solution toward a hydrogen-based economy. Successfully scaling blue hydrogen requires the alignment of three key pillars: regulatory support, commercial drivers, and technological innovations. Together, these pillars establish the market foundation, real-world deployment, and efficiency improvements. In this article, IDTechEx explores how these three key pillars are shaping blue hydrogen's future for scalable and sustainable growth.

Wearables can bridge the communication gap between the body and a computer. This article explores how devices can serve various purposes, from displaying real-time narration from actual speech, to generating readable, measurable signals translated directly from the body and understood within the medical space.

New generations of wireless networks are typically introduced every 10 years. With 6G rollout expected to commence around 2030, material development is well underway to meet the requirements of next generation of telecommunication technologies. While the 5G rollout is in progress, this article looks to the future of 6G and the ongoing development of low-loss materials to support it.

Join IDTechEx Technology Analyst Shihao Fu on Thursday 30th April for the expert-led webinar, "Humanoid Robots in Industry: Market Readiness, ROI, and 10-Year Outlook". Choose your preferred time zone - the webinar runs three times in one day.

IDTechEx forecasts the power electronics market to exceed US$65 billion by 2036, with EVs and data center power electronics taking up significant market share. Across the power electronics industry, the commercialization of wide bandgap semiconductors SiC and GaN enable increased efficiency and power density. The demands of the EV, data center, and renewables industries differ significantly, resulting in different rates of technological innovation across the power electronics landscape. By understanding how different power electronics applications relate to each other, IDTechEx offers a unique, cross-application insight into the power electronics industry as a whole.

The world of robotics is home to not only the stereotypical personified robot with humanistic qualities, but increasingly independent autonomous vehicles utilizing radar and other sensing capabilities to think for themselves. This article covers robotics from humanoids and drones to autonomous car technologies.

Join IDTechEx Senior Technology Analyst Mika Takahashi on Thursday 23rd April for the expert-led webinar, "Photonic Integrated Circuits, Driving an Interconnect Revolution". Choose your preferred time zone - the webinar runs three times in one day.

From materials that withstand extreme temperatures, to pristine graphene sheets and high-value critical materials, this article covers advanced coatings, graphene, and critical material recovery.

As economies worldwide are growing exponentially, there is increasing pressure on many of the major sectors to keep up with global trends. This article covers the need for new thermal management technologies alongside the growing demand for vehicle electrification high performance computing.

IDTechEx analyst Dr Selim presents on materials that can help minimize transmission losses in high frequency communications.

As the off-highway industries of construction, agriculture, and mining begin to see greater electrification of machines, battery technologies will be critical to their performance and overall market adoption. This article highlights how the performance demands of machines can be understood in order to match them with the best-fitting battery technology.

With in-mold electronics (IME) company, Kronos Mechatronics, having won the LOPEC 2026 Startup Award for Best Business Potential, the hype for printed electronic technologies can continue to flourish. This article covers IDTechEx's visit to LOPEC 2026 in Munich, exploring the use of IME within automotives.

IDTechEx analyst Eve Pope discusses the production pathways for biofuels and e-fuels including sustainable aviation fuel and renewable diesel.

Ion exchange membrane materials are electrically conductive materials responsible for the selective transportation of ions, and are necessary for applications including green hydrogen production, hydrogen fuel cells, and carbon capture. This article covers IDTechEx's research into the growing market and some of the main applications for ion exchange membranes.

From gas separation membranes and carbon capture to sustainable biofuels and next-generation feedstocks, IDTechEx's expansive portfolio of Sustainability Research Reports and Subscriptions covers a huge range of technologies, with deep dives into different sustainable markets, with forecasts for their developments spanning the next decade.

Modern AI and high-performance computing workloads require tremendous amounts of information to be transmitted at enormous speeds between chips, servers, and racks. Traditionally, this has been done with copper wiring over longer distances, but the current generation of architectures has been pushing the physical limits of what copper can achieve, and the industry has been facing a so-called 'interconnect bottleneck'. Photonic integrated circuits (PICs) are an emerging class of integrated circuit that seek to break this bottleneck.

IDTechEx analyst Daniel Parr discusses the outlook for materials in EV batteries.

China and the EU are currently leading the way for second-life (2L) electric vehicle (EV) battery application, but a collaboration between AI infrastructure company Crusoe and battery recycler and repurposer Redwood hints at shifting tides, and a potential new global frontrunner emerging.

IDTechEx's latest report, titled "Silicon Photonics and Photonic Integrated Circuits 2026-2036: Technologies, Markets, and Forecasts", offers an in-depth assessment of the latest advancements in PIC technologies. The report comprehensively analyses the key technologies and components including modulators, light sources, waveguides, and material platforms for photonics, as well as assessing the supply chain, market dynamics, and end-use applications.

In this article, IDTechEx Senior Technology Analyst Noah El Alami investigates how quantum technologies are driving interest into new material platforms for photonic integrated circuits (PICs).

Direct lithium extraction (DLE) technologies will be critical in achieving fast, efficient, and sustainable lithium production in order to meet battery demand. This article highlights the different types of DLE technology, how they compare to each other, and which technologies are anticipated to see greater market uptake.

The emergence of 5G and 6G telecommunications, along with the rise of data center demand and advanced automotive radar systems, is presenting a need for low-loss materials to optimize transmission. This article explores how low-loss materials can prevent transmission losses associated with higher sensitivities and frequencies.

2026 is an exciting time for smart glasses, with several products expected to be launched from big tech players later this year, which will follow Meta's release of the Ray-Ban Display launched in September 2025. The optics required to give AI smart glasses augmented reality (AR) capabilities are called waveguides and are positioned within the eyepiece. There have been several key developments to waveguide technology which are enabling AR smart glasses which are lightweight, have longer battery life, and have a fashionable form factor. IDTechEx forecasts 35 million AR smart glasses to be sold annually by 2036.

IDTechEx's new report "Batteries for Construction, Agriculture, & Mining Machines 2026-2036: Technologies, Players, Forecasts" provides a deep-dive into the fast-growing markets for electric machinery in the off-highway industries of construction, agriculture, and mining. This includes critical insights into battery requirements for the diverse range of machines, which technologies can meet these requirements, detailed supply chain analysis, and granular 10-year forecasts which outline the growth of off-highway battery demand to reach 45 GWh by 2036.

IDTechEx forecasts that the global blue hydrogen market will grow to $52Bn by 2036. Learn about the different technology options in this brief video.

Higher rates of critical material recovery are crucial to insulating supply chains from the introduction of export controls on highly geographically localised primary mineral sources. In this article, IDTechEx presents the valuable lessons that can be learned from the success of the platinum group metals recovery market.

The increased uptake of hydrogen as a fuel will begin to increase the sustainability across a number of sectors. This article explores how the steel and transportation industries in particular are amongst those expected to benefit most significantly from the use of low-carbon hydrogen.

IDTechEx analyst Thomas Bithell discusses the AR smart glass market and the optics used.

Lithium-ion cells are the fundamental technology underlying electrification in the automotive sector. The materials market for lithium-ion cells is broad and rapidly growing. This article explores cell material trends in EV batteries, and the material demand expected from commercialization of next-generation cell technologies.

An overview of the opportunities for materials in quantum computing, quantum sensing and quantum communications.

As the automotive industry continues to be an ever-relevant space, there are plenty of opportunities for composite materials, including those made with natural fibers, to be integrated into both the interiors and exteriors of vehicles. This article covers some of the technologies exhibited at JEC World 2026.

Join IDTechEx Principal Technology Analyst Yu-Han Chang on Thursday 26th March for the expert-led webinar, "AI Chips at the Edge of Success". Choose your preferred time zone - the webinar runs three times in one day.

Short-duration battery technologies such as Li-ion and valve-regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries are typically used in data centers as part of uninterruptible power supply systems (UPS). Data center operators also sign power purchase agreements (PPAs) to secure long-term, stable renewable energy at fixed prices, shielding them from price volatility. However, key shifts in both the energy storage technologies adopted and the long-term methods for power procurement for data centers may evolve over time. This article from IDTechEx covers shifts in the technologies adopted and business strategies data center operators may embrace over the coming years.

The green energy market is increasingly drawing attention as sustainability motivations soar in line with regulation and environmental awareness. This article covers some of the companies exhibiting at JEC World 2026 in Paris, where IDTechEx spoke with multiple players within the composite market.

While blue and green hydrogen dominate the low-carbon hydrogen conversation, turquoise hydrogen is quietly gaining momentum. Produced via methane pyrolysis, it delivers near-zero CO2 emissions without the need for carbon capture. Recently, major industrial players such as ExxonMobil, BASF, and KBR have entered this field once dominated by SMEs. Does this signal a shift toward larger-scale commercialization, and how significant is turquoise hydrogen in the broader hydrogen landscape? In this article, IDTechEx explores the technologies, market potential, and emerging role of turquoise hydrogen in the low-carbon energy transition.

A complimentary collection of insights written by IDTechEx industry experts, covering key technology innovation trends shaping the next decade.