Material Chemistry

Catlow C R A 1997. Computer Modelling as a Technique in Materials Chemistry. In Catlow C R A and V K Cheetham (Editors). New Trends in Materials Chemistry, NATO ASl Series C 498, Dordrecht, Kluwer. 

Chadwick A V and J Corish 1997. Defects and Matter Transport in Solid Materials. In NATO ASI Series C 498 (New Trends in Materials Chemistry), pp. 285-318. 

The phenomenon of acoustic cavitation results in an enormous concentration of energy. If one considers the energy density in an acoustic field that produces cavitation and that in the coUapsed cavitation bubble, there is an amplification factor of over eleven orders of magnitude. The enormous local temperatures and pressures so created result in phenomena such as sonochemistry and sonoluminescence and provide a unique means for fundamental studies of chemistry and physics under extreme conditions. A diverse set of apphcations of ultrasound to enhancing chemical reactivity has been explored, with important apphcations in mixed-phase synthesis, materials chemistry, and biomedical uses. 

D.R. Gaskell and Y.S. Kim. High Temperature Materials Chemistry. The Institute of Materials, London (1995). 

So, by the 1990s, Professor Rao had been active in several of the major aspects which, together, were beginning to define materials chemistry crystal defects, phase transitions, novel methods of synthesis. Yet, although he has been president of the Materials Research Society of India, he does not call himself a materials chemist but remains a famous solid-state chemist. As with many new conceptual categories, use of the new terminology has developed sluggishly. 

As materials chemistry has developed, it has come to pay more and more attention to that archetypal concern of materials scientists, microstructure. That concern came in early when the defects inherent in non-stoichiometric oxides were studied by the Australian. I.S. Anderson and others (an early treatment was in a book edited by Rabenau 1970), but has become more pronounced recently in the rapidly growing emphasis on self-assembly of molecules or colloidal particles. This has not yet featured much in books on materials chemistry, but an excellent recent popular account of the broad field has a great deal to say on self-assembly (Ball 1997). The phenomenon of graphoepitaxy outlined in Section 10.5.1.1 is a minor example of what is meant by self-assembly. 

In the words of a recent paper on MSE education (Flemings and Cahn 2000), chemistry departments have historically been interested in individual atoms and molecules, but increasingly they are turning to condensed phases . A report by the National Research Council (of the USA) in 1985 highlighted the opportunities for chemists in the materials field, and this was complemented by the NRC s later analysis (MSE 1989) which, inter alia, called for much increased emphasis on materials synthesis and processing. As a direct consequence of this recommendation, the National Science Foundation (of the USA) soon afterwards issued a formal call for research proposals in materials synthesis and processing (Lapporte 1995), and by that time it can be said that materials chemistry had well and truly arrived, in the... 

Materials chemistry is now served by a whole range of journals, ranging from the venerable Journal of Solid-State Chemistry and Materials Researeh Bulletin (already mentioned) to Materials Chemistry and Physies (which, interestingly, now incorporates The International Journal of the Chinese Soeiety for Materials Seienee... which appears to be distinct from the Chinese MRS) and Journal of Materials Chemistry (published by the RSC in London) - also Chemistry of Materials, published by the ACS. In France, Annales de Chimie Seienee des Materiaux is an offshoot of a journal originally founded by Lavoisier in 1789 (shortly before he lost his head). Journal of Materials Synthesis and Proeessing is an interesting periodical with somewhat narrower focus. 

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