Nanofibers Market - Forecast(2023 - 2028)

Nanofibers Market size is forecast to reach $3.31 billion by 2025 after growing at a CAGR of 24% during 2020-2025. The growth of the market is expected to be driven by the high demand nanofibers from the automotive industry. The other growth factor is water and air treatment industry which is using nanofibers for filtration.

The report: “Nanofibers Market-Forecast (2020-2025)”, by IndustryARC, covers an in-depth analysis of the following segments of nanofibers Industry. 

By Type: Carbon, Ceramic, Composite, Glass, Polymeric, and Others. 

By Technology: Magneto spinning, Force Spinning, Rotatory Jet Spinning, Electro Spinning, and Others.

By Application: Electronic Components, Cosmetics, Life Sciences, Drugs, Water and Air Treatment, Composites and Others.

By End User: Health Care Industry, Energy and Power, Textile Industry, Chemical Industry, Automotive, Aerospace and Defense, Pharmaceutical, Electrical and Electronics and Others.

By Geography: North America, South America, Europe, APAC, and RoW.

Polymer nanofibers segment held the largest share in the nanofibers market in 2019. Polymer nanofibers are ultra-thin fibers with a diameter in nonmetric range and are characterized by high surface area to volume ratio. These fibers are generated from different kinds of polymers that occur naturally or can be synthesized artificially. Owing to high specific area, excellent porosity and better flexibility in surface functionalities, these fibers find enormous applications in various domains.  Polymer nanofibers are widely used as a filtration medium in the industries to obtain high quality product. In addition, the increased use of polymer nanofibers as scaffolds to create extracellular matrix for bone tissue, engineering applications in the medical sector is further fueling the demand for polymer nanofiber globally. Additionally, the introduction of nanotechnology as a novel in interdisciplinary sciences is expected to bolster the growth for polymer nanofibers during the forecast period. Furthermore, the increasing use of nanofibers for energy storage and in various other applications especially in optical sensors, capacitors, transistors, and others on account of high electrical conductivity in electronic industries are further creating lucrative opportunities for key players operating in polymer nanofiber market.

Electro Spinning held the largest share in the nanofibers market in terms of technology. Major features of the electrospinning method is to spin a polymers into nanofiber shapes and control of fiber shapes is relatively easy. Electro Spinning method usually uses solutions in which materials dissolve in solvents as spinning materials. Electrospinning system consists of a high voltage power supply, polymer solutions, a storage tank, a spinneret and a grounded collector.  Polymer solutions will be pushed out of a tank to a spinneret at a constant speed. High voltage at 20kV to 40kV will be applied to a spinneret and polymer solution jet will be injected to a collector when electrical attraction exceeds surface tension of polymer solutions.  Solvents in jets are gradually volatilized and jets will reduce to nanometer level when they reach a collector. As a result, nanofibers obtain unprecedented characteristics by having chemical or physical modifications, and new applications in various fields are expected.

The Pharmaceutical segment held the held the largest share in the nanofibers market as it widely used in drug delivery applications and a bioactive material or drug carrier. The factors that affect the pharmaceutical sector include disease prevalence, drug affordability, consumer attitudes, government policies and some supply-side factors. As per World Population Prospects by United Nations, the worldwide population is likely to cross 9.3 billion by 2050 and around 21% of this population is expected to be aged 60 and above. Apart from ageing and rising population the improvements in purchasing power and access to quality healthcare and pharmaceuticals to poor and middle-class families worldwide also is driving the growth of pharmaceutical sector globally. Overall spending growth is driven by a range of factors including new product uptake and brand pricing, while it is offset by patent expiries and generics medicines. Raw materials from China are used in making antibiotics, paracetamol, and diabetes and cardiovascular drugs, among others. Pharmaceutical Companies are hugely dependent on Chinese imports. More than 50% of the needs of antibiotic makers in global market is fulfilled by China. The entire spectrum of the industry is going to get impacted if the situation will continue. India is the world’s third-largest drug producer by volume, imports 70% of its raw materials from the China but due to the ban on imports the growth of the pharmaceutical market is hindering.

Automotive sector is the primary market for the nanofibers in 2019 growing at CAGR of 26%. Nanofibers in the automotive sectors offer advantages such as light weight, reduction in friction and emissions by the engine, reduced wear and corrosion resistance, UV resistance, and advanced electronics and sensors. Nanofibers enhances the properties of materials and improves the performance of existing automobile technologies. Nanofibers improve the lifetime of tires considerably as well as the rolling resistance, abrasion resistance, and wet traction. It is expected that the amount of nanofibers used in the production of automobiles will double in the next 15 years. According to International Organization of Motor Vehicle Manufacturers the total production of automobile (commercial as well as Personal) globally in the year 2019 was 91,786,861 units compare to 96,869,020 units in 2018. This will drive the market nanofibers in in the forecast period. 

The coronavirus pandemic has had far-reaching consequences beyond the spread of the disease and efforts to quarantine it.  South Korea, Italy and Japan are the most affected among the major industrialized economies. Consequently, 80 percent of automotive and related companies report that Coronavirus will have a direct impact on their 2020 revenues. More than 80 percent of the world’s auto supply chain is connected to China. Production shortfalls resulting from supply chain disruptions in China will impact global automakers. The impact of COVID-19 on automotive sector can be spotted till year 2020 followed by which the industry will have persistent growth during forecast period.  

APAC dominates the nanofibers market with a share of 41% followed by North America and Europe. The economy of APAC is mainly influenced by the economic dynamics of countries such as China and India, but with growing foreign direct investment for economic development of South East Asia, the current scenario is changing. Countries in South East Asia are witnessing high growth in the water treatment sector. There is significant increase in the demand for water filtration techniques due to increase in scarcity for pure water. This in turn, increases the requirement of nanofibers in the water filter technology. Increasing demand for clean water owing to rising population, industrialization, and rapid urbanization from emerging markets is resulting in the growth of water treatment sector. Water treatment consists of chemical and physical separation processes to remove unstable elements and contaminants from water. Increasing requirements for minimized global water footprint and optimum quality yields in emerging economies are anticipated to drive the market.

Nanofibers are usually applied as a coating on filtration substrates to increase the filtration capacity. The physical characteristics of nanofibers, especially the extensive interconnection and high specific surface area, do not allow the passage of bacteria, viruses, and dust particles. In liquid filtration applications, nanofibers are used to filter water, drinks/beverages, blood, chemicals, petrol, and oil. Nanofibers have unique physical properties such as high porosity, interconnected structure of pores, and design flexibility. The use of nanofiber substrates leads to an initial rise in efficiency, lower pressure drops, and high energy savings when compared with other commercial filtration systems that use standard substrates. This factor will drive the growth of market in the forecast period.

Nanofibers possess the various unique characteristics, which enable them to be used for different fields of advanced textiles. The structure of nanofibers plays an important role to achieve the functional applications for technical medical textiles (Medtech). The key formation mechanisms of structured functional nanofibers such as core-shell, aligned, porous, composite, tubular, mechanical, and chemical are reviewed, including the briefed information on the processes involved. Recently, many researchers are focusing on nanofibers as the suitable methods and materials for Medtech which enhance the scope of medical textiles. Biocompatibility, biodegradability, and mechanical properties are the main issues for biomedical textile products as scaffolds. To overcome these issues, electrospun nanofibers could be very suitable for medical textiles, because the electrospun nanofibers are continuous nanofibers meshes that mimic the extracellular matrix as the medical textiles product. This factor will derive the market of nanofibers in the forecast period.

The use of nanofibers will cause nano pollution. Nano pollution refers to the byproducts or waste produced during the manufacturing of nanoscopic devices and materials. If these byproducts end up in landfills, they can contaminate the air and water systems and can pollute them. Along with the growth of nanotechnology, nano pollution is also a growing concern among many environmentalists as the impact of this pollution still cannot be determined. Nanoparticles with small diameters can easily penetrate human cells and cause drastic changes in the molecular and DNA levels. Thus, these dangers could lead to strict regulatory action being taken against nanofiber manufacturers in the future, which could impact the growth of the nanofibers market in the forecast period.

The small size of nanofibers cause difficulty to shift from the lab scale to the plant scale because due to the complex structure it has. Presently there is not any technology available in the market to overcome this problem. This factor will hinder the growth of the market of nanofibers in the forecast period. 

Technology launches, acquisitions and R&D activities are key strategies adopted by players in the nanofibers market. In 2019, the market of nanofibers has been consolidated by the top five players accounting for XX% of the share. Major players of nanofibers market are Ahlstrom-Munksj, Argonide Corp., Berkshire Hathaway Inc., Catalytic Materials LLC, Clear Bridge NanoMedics and others.