Energymaterials in renewable and sustainable energy development
This is one of the most popular fields in Materials Science. The
depletion of natural resources and the worldwide increase in population
combined with the multiple geographical and social pressures are forcing a
shift from fossil fuels to renewable and
sustainable energy sources. Materials such
as supercapacitors, energy storage in batteries,
thermoelectric devices, energy conversion
through solar cells, fuel cells. etc., are the hope
for renewable energy sources. Involvement
of materials in energy applications is an active area of research
that has great relevance to real-world challenges. Research based in this area
mainly aims towards the need to generate energy more sustainably and
cost-effectively, which should reduce the pollution level (Carbon reduction)
and aid to economy hike as well. The main research area in this stream is
Functional Ceramics and Inorganics,
Photonic Materials, Electrochemical Materials, Tissue Engineering, Polymer materials development
etc. In Materials Science, materials are key roadblocks to
improve the performance of energy technologies. These
include energy storage in Solar panels and cells,
Photovoltaics, battery, superconductors and Hydrogen storage.
Currently, most of the research in this area is focused on the development of
Clean Energy Materials. Geothermal energy, hydroelectric power, wind energy, thermal energy, etc., are the other major
sources of renewable energy in the world. This field is completely
based on research, which is surely lead to new innovations in materials science in
the future.