E-Skin Market Growth Driven by Rapid Advances in Material Science and Structural Designs

 

Electronic skin, or e skin, refers to a flexible, stretchable, and self-healing electronics that can efficiently mimic functionalities of human or animal skin. Electronic skin has diverse applications in robotics, artificial intelligence, health monitoring technologies, and prosthetics. Development of electronic skin has been a topic of research due to its relevant applications in robotics and in biomedical systems. E-skin basically protects the inner electronic system from damages and convey the mechanical stimulus in a way that is convenient for the sensor arrays. E-skin’s flexible and stretching characteristics facilitate miniaturized semiconductor components such as antennas, light-emitting diodes, compact power sources, and nanoscale drug delivery systems. Over the recent years, tremendous research and development activities have been carried out to develop a synthetic skin with self-healing capabilities similar to natural skin.

E-skin in healthcare sector can be used for prosthetics that can mimic the sense of touch, monitor for life signs, wound care, and in drug delivery. Rapidly aging global population and increasing prevalence of chronic diseases are expected to drive demand for e-skin. E-skin is an ultra-thin, flexible, wearable device that combines data and communication technologies with innovative materials, sensors, and microelectronics. Flexible displays are often integrated into the e-skin to reduce the discomfort associated with wearing bulky external monitoring devices. Over the recent years, many academic and research institutions have invested heavily in developing robust electronic skins. For instance, scientists and researchers at Stanford University of California have developed a very sensitive sensor that can be seamlessly integrated into an e-skin applied to a prosthetic limb. In a similar tandem, scientists from the Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials in South Korea have developed an e-skin for a prosthetic hand that can sense intensity of force, stress, or pressure to help a person recognize shape and texture of an object.

In February 2022, a breakthrough research study was published in the journal Science Robots wherein a team of researchers from Pohang University of Science & Technology (POSTECH) developed an electronic skin that can sense tactility in a way similar to humans. Researchers have developed an artificial sensory receptor that generates spike signals on its own and created an electronic skin that can send signals simultaneously to be analysed in real time. The research study was conducted with backing from Basic Research Laboratory Program and the Brain Convergence Research Program through the National Research Foundation of Korea.

In a research study published in January 2022, a team of Chinese researchers have created a flexible electronic skin that is equipped with sensors, wireless transmitters, and tiny vibrating magnets that offer haptic feedback to users. Attachment of these patches to various parts of the body such as hand, forearm, or knee can enable the system to record movements of the users and transmit them to robotic devices. The research has been published in the journal Science Advances.

Major companies in the e-skin market include Medidata Solutions, Intellisense Technology, Plastic Logic GmbH, Rotex Global, LLC, Smartlifeinc Limited, VivaLNK, Inc., Xenoma Inc., Xsensio, Chrono Therapeutics Inc., and iRhythm Technologies, Inc. In February 2022, deep tech startup, Touchlab raised £3.5 million in seed funding round. Touchlab develops tactile sensing e-skin for robots. Touchlab’s e-skin is thinner than human skin and can easily be retrofitted without reducing the robot’s or gripper’s degrees-of-freedom. Touchlab’s e-skin can withstand a high load, sense direction in 3D and can endure harsh environment such as acid, high and low temperatures, and radioactive environments conferring unique capabilities to the e-skin. 

Sound Bar Market - Increasing Demand for High-Quality, Fully Immersive Audio Experience in Indoor Environments Will Help Drive Industry Growth

 

A sound bar, also known as media bar, is a slender, oblong-shaped loudspeaker with multiple speakers fitted inside. The device can be mounted on the wall area above or below a TV or home theater. The speakers placed inside the sound bar create a brilliant surround-sound effect, enhancing the overall audio experience for the user. Compared to other stereo sound systems, sound bars are smaller in size, easier to set up, and less expensive. Sound bars are designed to produce loud, high-quality sound with high bass response, and their usage around the world has increased with the introduction of flat-screen television displays, which have little room for speakers.

Browse Full Report Description + Research Methodology + Table of Content + Infographics@ https://www.emergenresearch.com/industry-report/sound-bar-market

Modern sound bars are equipped with many advanced features such as external subwoofer, voice control, Dolby Atmos technology, built-in Bluetooth, multi-room features, and HDMI 4K passthrough. The subwoofers handle the low-frequency sounds unlike other speakers and offer the ultimate audio experience, while the Bluetooth feature enables the user to connect their phone or tablet to the sound bar and listen to music from anywhere in the house. Sound bars today are compatible with voice assistants like Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant and allow users to set reminders, plan schedules, or hear the latest news. The latest sound bars can be connected to wireless multi-room speakers, which can be controlled from just one app. Samsung Q70T 3.1.2 Wireless Sound Bar, Sony HT-S350 2.1 Wireless Sound Bar, and LG SN7Y 3.1.2 Wireless Sound Bar are some of the latest products with features like Dolby Atmos tech, virtual surround sound, high-resolution audio compatibility, built-in Bluetooth, and built-in voice assistants.

Revenue growth of the global sound bar market can be attributed to factors such as increasing penetration of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets, growing demand for smart TVs and home audio systems, increasing number of OTT (over-the-top) subscriptions, and greater accessibility and affordability of on-demand media streaming platforms like Amazon Prime, Netflix, and Hotstar/Disney+ worldwide. Other factors supporting market revenue growth are increasing demand for high-quality, fully immersive audio experience in indoor environments, introduction of next-generation features in modern soundbars, rising trend of on-demand music streaming, growing availability of various music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon Music, and rise in disposable incomes of consumers, mainly in developing countries like India and China.

Custom Requirements can be requested for this Report [Customization Available] @ https://www.emergenresearch.com/request-for-customization/984

Increasing use of Wearable Biosensors for Real-Time, Accurate Healthcare Monitoring will Drive the Biosensors Market Growth

Market Insights:

Biosensors are analytical devices that can detect the concentration or presence of biological analytes, microorganisms, or biological structures. Biosensors have numerous applications in industries, such as medical, food, and agriculture, among others. They have also found a vital place in COVID-19 diagnosis. SD Biosensor’s STANDARD Q COVID-19 IgM/IgG Duo Test Kit for the rapid detection of SARS-CoV-2 in humoral fluid received EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the US FDA in April. The company has also co-developed a SARS-CoV-2 point-of-care (PoC) antigen test with Roche Diagnostics.

A potential cross-industry application that would boost both the biosensors and the wearable devices markets in the following years is the increasing use of wearable biosensors for real-time, accurate healthcare monitoring. A biosensor that can be printed directly on the skin has recently been created by a team of researchers headed by Penn State University’s Larry (Huanyu) Cheng, the most interesting use of which would possibly be for diagnosing COVID-19. The leading companies in the biosensors sphere include Abbott Laboratories, Molecular Devices Corporation, Biosensors International, Bio-Rad International, DowDuPont Inc., Pinnacle Technology, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Siemens Healthineers, TE Connectivity Corporation, and Roche Diagnostics. Both companies and scientists have been exploring the uses of biosensors, and recent years have seen rapid development on the research front.

In a major breakthrough, researchers from the  University of Virginia School of Medicine have developed a simple improvement to fluorescent biosensors prevalent in both medical and scientific research, making it easy for scientists to study biological processes, develop new treatments, explore the happenings within individual cells, and solve other problems connected to different diseases. The biosensors can detect individual targets inside a cell and illuminates them, allowing scientists to monitor and measure biological occurrences that have otherwise been impossible. Researchers Shen Zhang and Hui-wang Ai found that adding 3-aminotyrosine turned the green biosensor red, as explained in the research paper published earlier this month. They tested their enhanced biosensor on insulin-making cells in the pancreas and were able to track the effect of high levels of glucose on the cells.

This week, a team from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Duke University has fabricated a novel type of genetically-encoded neural biosensor operating in near-infrared light. The biosensor will help in the non-invasive study of neuron firing at deeper levels in a living brain while tracking the oxygen consumption. The researchers hope that these near-infrared biosensors will become key molecular tools to be used in animal models of human diseases and cognitive neuroscience research, which will help scientists see the mechanisms of different behavioral and emotional regulation in the brain. These developments and the subsequent advancements in the application of biosensors would be a significant driver for the growth of the biosensors market in the following years.

Silicon Photonics Market Growth is Driven by High Volume Production at Low Costs by Leveraging CMOS-like Fabrication

 Market Insights:

Silicon had dominated the electronics sector for several decades before it became a potential material of choice across the photonics industry. Silicon photonics took off back in 2004, boosted by industry and governmental investments. After a series of breakthroughs and rising investments, silicon photonics is now considered the most active discipline in the integrated photonics field. Silicon, as a photonic material, does have some shortcomings. It is not an ideal material in its basic form; thus, numerous research projects have, in the past decade, addressed this and other such concerns, and with time, novel solutions are being formulated. 

Recently, Laura Lechuga, an OSA Fellow, and her team at Catalan Institute of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, Spain, were awarded the European Union funding for developing a point-of-care (PoC) nanophotonic biosensor that can detect the presence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for the COVID-19 infection. The group has been using up to 20 biosensors on a chip to design silicon photonics devices.

The key element driving the adoption of the silicon photonics market is the high-volume production at low costs it offers by leveraging CMOS-like fabrication. It has played a major role in bringing photonics to a wide array of technology sectors, wherein the cost of implementation would have been too high when using traditional photonic elements like the ones employed in the telecommunications industry.  The field of silicon photonics has also gained traction because it enables the making of optical devices inexpensively through semiconductor fabrication technology. 

Significant factors propelling the silicon photonics market forward are the surging demand from data centers for cloud computing and the escalating usage of internet. Government initiatives to push the adoption of online transactions and e-banking would also be beneficial for the adoption of the silicon photonics market in the future. Even with these drivers fostering market growth, challenges such as the advent of alternative technologies and high-volume markets might create some hurdles in the widespread implementation of the technology.

The leading companies in the industry include AIO Core Co. Ltd, Cisco Systems, Inc., Hamamatsu Photonics K.K., IBM Corporation, Infinera Corporation, Intel Corporation, IPG Photonics Corporation, Mellanox Technologies Ltd, NKT Photonics, and STMicroelectronics NV. This month, Rockley Photonics closed an additional USD 50 million funding round from VCs, institutional funds, and strategic investors, including Applied Ventures, the VC wing of Applied Materials, and Credit Suisse-backed SIG-i, along with the current shareholders. The latest round brought Rockley’s total funds raised to USD 225 million, allotted to developing its silicon photonics platform. 

Both existing and emerging companies are striving to optimize the potential of the technology and get a competitive edge in the silicon photonics industry. Photonics-based computing requires less energy and is also able to transfer data much faster than traditional techniques and will help market growth, although manufacturing costs of silicon integrated circuits with embedded photonic elements can be prohibitive, which poses a substantial challenge. 

Increasing Investment in the Study of Patterned or Organized Molecular Films to Propel Nanofilms Industry Growth

 Market Insights:

Nanofilms can be described as thin layers of material, with thickness ranging between a fraction of a nanometer and several micrometers. These films are an atomic-thick frontier with their surroundings, where most of the physicochemical processes take place. The largest class of these nanofilms comprise of a stack of multiple layers that have opposite charge, wherein the states’ density is restricted to a 2D arrangement, and quantum coupling among multiple layers moderate the properties of the assembled multilayer. The most prominent method to deposit functional thin films is the layer-on-layer deposition. Several approaches to deposit single layers include spin coating, immersion, electromagnetic deposition, spraying, and fluidic assembly.

Nanofilms Market

The market growth is being propelled by the increasing investment in the study of patterned or organized molecular films in nanostructures by looking at the assembly of quantum dots measured in nanometers. There are a plethora of new projects exploring the different applications of this technology for different purposes by both academia as well as companies, which would widen the application scope of nanofilms further, simultaneously boosting market growth and expansion. For instance, a group of material scientists from the National University of Science and Technology MISiS has used boron nitride to create antibacterial nano-coatings that work efficiently against microbial pathogens. They might become a safe alternative to antibiotics typically used in implantology as they have no side effects. Researchers from the University of Houston have recently introduced a medical robotic hand made with stretchable semiconducting nanofilms that can allow medical professionals to diagnose and treat patients remotely, with optimal accuracy and a diminished margin of human error. Hybrid nanofilms might be a crucial addition as topical anesthetics to dentistry procedures to make them pain-free.

Some of the leading players in the industry are Nanofilm, Nano Therapeutics Pvt. Ltd., Cosmo Films Limited, Nano Foam Technology Private Limited, Cosmo Films Ltd Smart Source Technologies, Advanced Thin Film, MetaTechnica, NanoGram Corporation, Maxtek Technology, MetaTechnica, and Nano Labs. In recent years, the nanofilms market has witnessed established companies investing in keeping up with the evolution in the technology and newer players emerging with innovative products that broaden the scope of its applications. 

In April, earlier this year, Peak Nanosystems LLC, a Coppell-based start-up working with nanotech, closed its Series C round with funds amounting to USD 25 Million from Connecticut-based Squadron Capital. The company planned to allocate the funds towards acquiring PolymerPlus, an Ohio-based Multilayered Polymer Products & Research Company, and expanding its own in-house optical product development. PolymerPlus has developed technology for film capacitors and optics, which can be launched next year. By acquiring the company, Peak Nanosystems acquired the rights to this particular tech and the IP on board nanolayered film that has been fabricated at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.