Molybdenum as a Green Electronics Material?  Plenty of Work Left Still to Do

Published: November 03, 2011    Category: Advanced Materials

This sanguine view of the future of molybdenum as a green electronics material is attractive, not just as an underpinning for a serious marketing plan for molybdenum, but also as part of an image or business development plan for this metal.  However, it is important to consider the fact that there are many uncertainties in the assertions made above that produce considerable business risks for molybdenum suppliers of various kinds:

• The addressable markets enumerated above have to develop in robust ways.  While this seems likely to be the case, it is by no means assured. Thus, the solar panel industry is under considerable strain at the present time in terms of the subsidies that have supported it for a number of years.  If these subsidies are eliminated or reduced substantially in major PV markets, then the potential for use of molybdenum in solar panels may be significantly lowered.  Similarly, it is by no means a done deal that consumer lighting markets will shift to LEDs or that the plans around the world to build substantial Smart Grid infrastructure will come to fruition

• There are also issues of substitution that molybdenum must take into consideration.  For example, in the newer areas where we see molybdenum as having potential for heat sinks, molybdenum will have to compete with a slew of both new and old heat sink materials. And while molybdenum may well have a strong future as a PV electrode, we have already seen some CIGS companies substitute aluminum and copper.  Incidentally, competitive pressures are something relatively new for suppliers of molybdenum to niche markets to contend with.  For example, for many years molybdenum wire, sealing foil, etc., were sold into traditional lighting markets and no other material was considered a plausible alternative.

Share this on social networks or email