Preface

Renewable and sustainable energy technology is making a growing, and badly needed, contribution to the global energy mix, particularly to provide the twin goals of reduction of emissions and security of supply. A reduction in emissions is essential if developed countries are to meet their internationally agreed emissions targets in the coming decades. However even though growth in these technologies is rapid in some areas, this must be seen in the context of a total growing demand for energy worldwide. Many of the technologies discussed in this book are set to join this expanding market and thus the demand for new and improved devices is urgent. Functional materials underpin most of these devices – for example photovoltaics, fuel cells, electrolysers – and thus the need for new high-performance materials is also growing.

This volume draws together 20 contributions covering the wide range of materials needed for these important devices. The topics are so diverse (but with this common theme of materials for sustainable energy) that we felt the need for subdividing the book into separate sections covering solar power, hydrogen production and storage, fuel cells, demand reduction and energy storage, each with its own specialist editors to cover the subfields. This is because the topics covered are truly interdisciplinary and cover the disciplines of solid-state chemistry, solid-state physics, materials science and engineering. Each contributor gives a comprehensive overview of their topic and illuminates what are the challenges in their particular field. An important addition to this specific content is the provision of an appendix on the impact of modern materials simulation and the valuable contribution that these techniques can make to the search for new materials and the optimisation of existing materials. This book will thus be of use to postgraduate research students, and experienced researchers alike who want to expand their understanding of their own specialist field and to gain a broader under-standing of the relative merits of complementary energy technologies.