Materials for Sustainable Development – Challenges and Opportunities: Volume 1492 Challenges and Opportunities

Symposium D, 'Energy Critical Materials' and Symposium G, 'Materials as Tools for Sustainability', were held on November 25–30 at the 2012 MRS Fall Meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. Many technologies that currently impart significant benefits to our society cannot continue indefinitely without depleting or despoiling key resources, and more sustainable paths must be sought. Sustainable development that raises global standards of living and promotes economic growth calls for materials science to develop advanced technologies and strategies to use our finite material and energy resources more efficiently. This volume presents a compilation of emerging research on sustainable development in the context of product manufacturing, catalysis, transportation, and energy-critical materials. Each paper provides a glimpse of exciting recent developments, including: critical elements for next-generation batteries, phase change materials for energy efficient buildings, weathering resistant materials, 3-D printing technologies, flame retardants with reduced toxicity, and stimulating life-cycle analysis examples in various applications.

Part I. Energy Storage: 1. Lithium – the metal of the future?; 2. Modified carbon papers as electrode materials of all-vanadium redox flow battery; 3. Stability of vanadium electrolytes in the vanadium redox flow battery; Part II. Rare Earths and Magnets: 4. The elements of magnetics; 5. Photothermal microscopy applied to the characterization of UO2-Gd2O3 nuclear fuel pellets; 6. 4K-GM cryocooler performance and thermal conductivity of HoxEr1-xN; Part III. Material Resources: 7. Sustainability in materials research in the EU: from FP7 to Horizon 2020; 8. Glass: an old material for the future of manufacturing; 9. Ecodesign concept case studies: Cu in electric motor and Ni in waste incinerator; 10. Environmental impacts of distributed manufacturing from 3-D printing of polymer components and products; 11. Distributed recycling of post-consumer plastic waste in rural areas; Part IV. Smart Materials: 12. Progress in chromogenic materials and devices: new data on electrochromics and thermochromics; 13. Photochromic properties in Eu3+ doped Sr2SnO4; 14. Strong light emission from stress-activated perovskite-related oxides; 15. Group III-nitride based electronic and optoelectronic integrated circuits for smart lighting applications; 16. Microstructure of epitaxial AlN layers on sapphire substrates deposited by physical vapor deposition; Part V. Environment and Health: 17. Characterization of carbon dioxide separation membrane with polycation nano-layers; 18. Photocatalytic properties of TiO2/WO3/FTO multi-layer structures prepared by spray pyrolysis deposition; 19. Photocatalytic TiO2 macroscopic fiber obtained through integrative chemistry; 20. Novel protection solutions against environmental attack for light weight high temperature materials; 21. Synthesis of novel halogen-free phenol based polymers and their utilization as flame retardant in polypropylene system; Part VI. Efficiency and Fuel Switching: 22. Mullite formation in Al2O3/SiO2/SiC composites for processing porous radiant burners; 23. Highly efficient synthesis of per-substituted amino-cyclodextrins under microwave irradiation in a closed cavity; 24. Enzyme-based biohybrid foams designed for biodiesel production and continuous flow heterogeneous catalysis; 25. Salt as alternative energy material to fossil fuel .