The Paris 2024 Olympic Games are underway, and elite athletes from all over the world are competing in various games using a range of different skills. With constant debate over gold, silver, and bronze medals, a comparison can be made with the conductive inks market.

Silver flake-based inks are set to win gold in several different application areas, beating out competition from a host of conductive ink types.

IDTechEx has covered the printed electronics and conductive inks market for over ten years, providing independent third-party assessment of technological and commercial progress within the industry.

Their report on the topic, “Conductive Inks Market 2024-2034: Technologies, Applications, Players”, includes granular 10-year market forecasts and is based on profiles of 30+ key players. It leverages extensive, in-depth coverage of many end-use markets for conductive inks.

The conductive inks market is currently dominated by the success of silver-flake based inks. These inks are cheaper than alternatives due to their simple processing and ability to be incorporated into existing deposition methods. The inks are also durable and exhibit good flexibility, which are key properties for most printed or flexible electronics.

Silver flake-based inks currently see significant uptakes in photovoltaics, but the outlook for the dominant ink is set to change over the coming decade, with emerging opportunities in applications such as 3D electronics, printed heaters, and RFID and smart packaging.

The conversations around track and field events typically discuss what race distance a runner is best suited for. The same approach can be applied to conductive inks, with different ink types best matched with different applications.

Historically, silver flake-based inks have found a significant use case in photovoltaics, where conductive pastes are screen printed for charge extraction. Photovoltaics require inks that exhibit high conductivity and durability at a low price point.

A transition from the currently dominant PERC cell type to TOPCon or SHJ cells will initially see an increase in silver flake-based ink demand before cell optimization reverses the effect. For the long-term success of silver flake-based inks, a new distance will need to be run in the form of emerging applications.

The 2024 Olympics will feature four new events – breakdancing, skateboarding, surfing, and speed rock climbing – with excitement and hype building for each new competition for many reasons. Similarly, the emerging opportunities for silver flake-based inks are varied and diverse.

3D electronics have a specific set of characteristic requirements for conductive inks, including the need for rapid cure times and the ability to overcome the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) mismatch. Printed heaters are gaining traction, specifically for electric vehicle interiors where there is no wasted heat generated by an ICE to leverage and require the conductive ink to exhibit durability for both high temperatures and thermal cycling.

Another exciting emerging market for conductive inks is RFID & smart packaging, where the ink must be low-cost and compatible with existing manufacturing methods. Silver flake-based inks of varying formulations can meet all of these requirements, showing there is scope for significant market growth beyond the currently dominant photovoltaics space.

One of the most compelling aspects of the Olympic Games is the comradery shown between teammates representing the same nation, despite often competing directly against each other. In the realm of conductive inks, there are several types of silver based-inks to choose from, such as nanoparticle-based, molecular, or particle-free and nanowire inks.

For a comprehensive study of which ink type is best suited to any given application and the reasons for this, please see the IDTechEx report, “Conductive Inks Market 2024-2034: Technologies, Applications, Players.”

While it is clear that silver flake-based inks will take the gold medal in the race to dominate the conductive inks market, it would be remiss not to discuss bronze when handing out the medals.

While bronze itself does not feature in the conductive inks space, one of its constituent components does – copper. With a raw bulk metal price point of 100 times less than silver, copper inks offer a compelling use case for conductive ink applications. Opportunities are beginning to appear for copper inks, and while Paris 2024 may come too soon for this emerging ink, the ink landscape may have shifted by the time the famous flame is lit in Los Angeles 2028.