New Trends in Materials Chemistry

Materials Chemistry is rapidly emerging as a key component of contemporary science. The strongly interdisciplinary nature of the field requires input from all branches of chemistry, from crystallography, from solid state physics and from computational and theoretical techniques. This book aims to give a coherent survey of the field by considering all the major aspects of the current study of the chemistry of materials. Early chapters emphasise basic principles and techniques. Strong emphasis is given to new techniques and technologies, for example, the opportunities opened up by new synchrotron sources in crystallography, and new computational techniques in simulation studies of complex materials. Characterisation techniques including crystallographic, microscopic and spectroscopic techniques are then described. Key contemporary themes such as atomic transport, reactivity and catalysis are reviewed. Later chapters focus on specific dasses of material, induding solid state ionics, ceramics (induding giant magneto-resistance and high temperature superconducting solids), microporous and molecular materials. We hope that the book provides a snapshot of the scientific and technological challenges in this fast developing field. The editors would like to thank the NATO Scientific Affairs Division for funding the School on which this volume is basedj financial contribution from Johnson Matthey Technology Centre is also gratefully acknowledged. We are most grateful to Mrs Jean Conisbee for all her efforts in preparing the manuscript.