Posted February 22, 2002 Manufacturing News Use of Inherently Conductive Polymers Set to Boom Invented in 1977 and winner of the 2000 Nobel Prize for Chemistry, inherently conductive polymers (ICPs) have been around for a while, but their true commercial potential has never been realized. A new study from Frost & Sullivan (London; www.frost.com) examines the current and future potential of three main types of ICP, polyaniline, polythiophene (PEDT) and polypyrrole, in the new markets that are about to explode. Brian Balmer, Industry Analyst at Frost & Sullivan explains, "until now, ICPs have been aimed at the traditional conductive polymer markets of electrostatic discharge packaging and anti-corrosive coatings. However they found it difficult to compete on price with existing conductive polymers which are produced by incorporating materials such as carbon black, carbon fibre or fragments of stainless steel into the base polymer. Hence their performance in these markets has been poor. But, new cutting edge technologies such as organic light emitting diodes for flat screen displays, dimmable windows and fuel cells will see sales of ICPs rocket over the next 6 years." The fastest growth area for the use of conductive polymers is in Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs), which are a new way to generate light, using organic materials rather than the complex crystalline structures found in traditional Light Emitting Diodes (LEDs). OLEDs are used for the production of flat panel displays that include cell phones, PDAs, monitors and televisions. The current global OLED market stands at about $3 million and is expected to mushroom to more than $700 million by 2005. In the longer term, displays of all shapes and sizes will become part of the structure of our surroundings and inexpensive, paper-thin displays will be incorporated into the walls and even the furniture of our offices and homes. Displays could also be flexible and transparent, allowing large area flexible displays to be rolled up for storage and transport. The Manufacturing Report © Copyright 2002 by Lionheart Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved. E-mail Editorial Dept: tmr-editorial@lionhrtpub.com Lionheart Publishing, Inc. 2555 Cumberland Parkway, Suite 299, Atlanta, GA 30339 USA Phone: 770-431-0867 | Fax: 770-432-6969 E-mail: lpi@lionhrtpub.com