World demand for nanomaterials will reach $4.2 billion by 2011, and will expand to $100 billion by 2025, say analysts at Freedonia Group Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm.

By 2025, use of nanomaterials will have expanded well beyond their initial outlets, such as wafer-polishing slurries used in semiconductor manufacturing, high-performance super-strong plastic composites, transparent sun screens and other personal care products, self-cleaning glass, and high-end sports equipment, Freedonia analysts say. These and other trends, including market share and company profiles, are presented in Freedonia’s market study, “World Nanomaterials.”

Electronics applications are the largest outlet for nanomaterials, and will remain so in the Asia/Pacific region, as a large and growing proportion of electronics production occurs there. Although Japan is the largest market in Asia for nanomaterials, China is the fastest growing market and will eventually become the largest in the region. While smaller in terms of global market size, a number of other nations will offer opportunities for nanomaterials.

Although electronics applications are the largest outlet for nanomaterials, health care applications eventually will be the leading global market, reaching $50 billion by 2025. Use of nanomaterials in health care will be concentrated in the United States and Western Europe, where a large share of the world’s pharmaceutical products are manufactured. France and Switzerland are among the countries at the forefront of the development of nanomaterial use in pharmaceutical applications.

The nanomaterials with the greatest initial commercial influence are the less-exotic but more widely used nanoscale oxides and metals, analysts say. Silica, titanium dioxide, alumina, iron oxide, zinc oxide, and other nanoscale versions of conventional materials are finding use in cosmetics, paint, construction materials, and electronic equipment.

Eventually, nanomaterials will be widely used in drug delivery systems, creating opportunities for safer, more effective dosages of medication to treat disease. In the next decade or two, novel materials, such as nanotubes and dendrimers, will account for a larger share of overall nanomaterial usage. For more information, contact the Freedonia Group online at www.freedoniagroup.com.