The Most Significant Advanced Materials News from 2021, Discussed by IDTechEx - Seite 2

Of course, it is not just the public funding that is important to track. We have seen notable private funding rounds and announcements from those on the early-stage and smaller scale, such as C12 Quantum Electronics raising $10m for their work on CNTs for quantum computers, Stoicheia ($5m) for their advanced materials discovery process, and DiviGas ($3.6m) and Osmoses ($3m) both for novel membrane technology, to those further along such as CHASM Advanced Materials ($15m) with their nanotube hybrid developments, Via Separations ($38m) with their graphene-oxide membrane platform, and Continuous Composites ($17m) for 3D printing thermoset FRPs and all the way to larger money to really help grow their commercial deployment such as with Phononic ($50m) with their bismuth telluride thermoelectric cooler, ARRIS Composites ($88.5m) for advanced composite manufacturing and Plastic Energy (€145m) for the chemical recycling of plastic waste. There are countless more beyond this and certainly the appetite for funding, even in some industries that will not see a return for longer than most, has not diminished.

Partnerships

Funding and acquisitions are important, but strategic partnerships and agreements can be essential to the success or failure of any emerging material. As with the previous sections, we have seen this with numerous sectors such as Solvay and 9T Labs for composites and countless in chemical recycling in plastic waste. IDTechEx has identified the field of materials informatics as one where some of the more eye-catching partnerships have been seen, this topic relates to using data-centric approaches to accelerating materials R&D. Materials informatics has seen engagement from many big chemical and materials companies with key external providers, but in 2021 the partnerships with large engineering simulation/software firms was the stand-out news with Citrine Informatics and Intellegens joining forces with Siemens and Ansys, respectively.

Production Begins and Expansions Arrive

One of the hardest parts in the commercialization of any material is achieving notable volume outside of a lab-based pilot scale. We have seen this jump for some exciting materials including NAWA Technologies and their VACNTs (vertically aligned CNTs) that entered the first stage of their industrialization production in August and General Graphene Corporation launching their high-capacity roll-to-roll production line for CVD grown graphene.