Grand challenges materials

Physical models of fuel cell operation contribute to the development of diagnoshc methods, the rational design of advanced materials, and the systematic ophmization of performance. The grand challenge is to understand relations of primary chemical structure of materials, composition of heterogeneous media, effective material properties, and performance. For polymer electrolyte membranes, the primary chemical structure refers to ionomer molecules, and the composition-dependent phenomena are mainly determined by the uptake and distribuhon of water. 

T.A. Arias, K.J. Cho, J.D. Joannopoulos. P. Lam and M.P. Teter, Wavelet Transform Representation of the Electronic Structure of Materials, in Toward Teraflop Computing and New Grand Challenge Applications, (R. K. Kalia and P. Vashishta Eds), Nova Science Publ.. Commack. N.Y., 1995, pp. 25-36. 

In this chapter we described some of the industrial aspects of ceramics. Ceramics make money. Unfortunately obtaining the raw materials can have some undesirable environmental and societal impacts. The environmental impact of nanomaterials is an issue that has not yet significantly concerned the ceramics industry because no one knows exactly what that impact is. But as the market for ceramic nanopowders and other nanostructures (such as wires and tubes) increases the environmental concerns will have to be addressed. Many of the grand challenges we face as a society, such as energy, the enviromnent, and health care, will require innovative technological solutions. Ceramics can play an important role in these areas, e.g., nuclear waste immobilization, catalytic conversion, and viral nanosensors. 

The list of 11 challenges in Table 2.1 was sufficiently comprehensive to allow the next step of analysis—identifying the corrosion grand challenges. With the challenge constructive uses of corrosion eliminated as not applicable to materials... 

Corrosion grand challenge 11 entails developing a better understanding of corrosion mechanisms and morphologies, coupled with the environments in which they operate, and the fusion of the knowledge, data, models, and tools available into more accurate—and widely descriptive—models of materials and environments for all types of corrosion. 

Reichert W, Ratner BD, Anderson J, Coury A, Hoffman AS, Laurencin CT, et al. 2010 panel on the biomaterials grand challenges. Journal of Biomedical Materials Research Part A 2011 96A(2) 275-87. 

As well known, since the S, a, and k have an intimate relationship with the carrier density, the grand challenge in designing thermoelectric materials is the decoupling of electronic and thermal transport properties. In other words, a good... 

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