Nanocomposite films containing ZnO quantum dots (QDs) and SiOxNy matrix were prepared by target-attached radio frequency sputtering. Photoluminescence (PL) dominated by violet and blue emissions was observed from all ZnO QD–SiOxNy nanocomposite films with dot diameters ranging from 2.77 to 6.65 nm. X-ray photoemission spectroscopy (XPS) revealed the formation of nitrogen-correlated bonding configurations in both the SiOxNy matrix and the dot/matrix interfaces. The nitrogen-correlated configuration at the interface produced a substantial polarization effect at dot surface. The suppression of green-yellow emission observed in photoluminescence spectra of all samples was ascribed to the hole-trapping process promoted by the enhancement of the surface polarization.

During the past two decades, the demand for the storage of electrical energy has mushroomed both for portable applications and for static applications. As storage and power demands have increased predominantly in the form of batteries, the system has evolved. However, the present electrochemical systems are too costly to penetrate major new markets, still higher performance is required, and environmentally acceptable materials are preferred. These limitations can be overcome only by major advances in new materials whose constituent elements must be available in large quantities in nature; nanomaterials appear to have a key role to play. New cathode materials with higher storage capacity are needed, as well as safer and lower cost anodes and stable electrolyte systems. Flywheels and pumped hydropower also have niche roles to play.

Availability of affordable energy has enabled spectacular growth of industrialization and human development in all parts of the world. With growth now accelerating in developing countries, demands on energy sources and infrastructure are being stretched to new limits. Additional energy issues include the push for renewable resources with reduced greenhouse gas emissions and energy security affected by the uneven distribution of energy resources around the globe. Together, these issues present a field of opportunity for innovations to address energy challenges throughout the world and all along the energy flow. These energy challenges form the backdrop for this special expanded issue of MRS Bulletin on Harnessing Materials for Energy. This article introduces the global landscape of materials issues associated with energy. It examines the complex web of energy availability, production, storage, transmission, distribution, use, and efficiency. It focuses on the materials challenges that lie at the core of these areas and discusses how revolutionary concepts can address them. Cross-cutting topics are introduced and interrelationships between topics explored. Article topics are set in the context of the grand energy challenges that face the world into the middle of this century.

The main concept currently in use in wind energy involves horizontal-axis wind turbines with blades of fiber composite materials. This turbine concept is expected to remain as the major provider of wind power in the foreseeable future. However, turbine sizes are increasing, and installation offshore means that wind turbines will be exposed to more demanding environmental conditions. Many challenges are posed by the use of fiber composites in increasingly large blades and increasingly hostile environments. Among these are achieving adequate stiffness to prevent excessive blade deflection, preventing buckling failure, ensuring adequate fatigue life under variable wind loading combined with gravitational loading, and minimizing the occurrence and consequences of production defects. A major challenge is to develop cost-effective ways to ensure that production defects do not cause unacceptable reductions in equipment strength and lifetime, given that inspection of large wind power structures is often problematic.

The cavity model and the dislocation mechanics were used to analyze the plastic energy dissipated in an indentation deformation. The plastic energy dissipated in an indentation cycle was proportional to the cube of the residual indentation depth. The experimental results supported the analysis for the indentation of commercially pure titanium by a Vickers indenter. Slip bands around the indentation were observed, suggesting that the indentation deformation was controlled by dislocation motion. The indentation hardness decreased with the indentation load, showing the indentation size effect. The ratio of the total energy to the plastic energy was found to be proportional to the ratio of the maximum indentation depth to the residual indentation depth. The effects of holding time were examined on the time-dependent plastic deformation of the commercially pure titanium at ambient temperature.

Pulsed-laser-induced Si nanostructures on Si substrates were investigated using third harmonic Nd3+:yttrium aluminum garnet (355nm) laser irradiation under ambient conditions. Nanostructures were found in the laser-irradiated areas as well as in their surrounding areas. The laser-irradiated areas contained Si nanoparticles with an average size of about 50 nm. In the vicinity of the laser-irradiated areas, uniform nc-Si/SiOx core–shell structures were observed. Scanning electron microscopy images indicate that the core–shell structures had an average size of 500 nm while Raman data show that the Si cores were made of a large number of much smaller Si nanocrystals (nc-Si). The photoluminescence (PL) measurement of nc-Si/SiOx core–shells exhibited a broad visible emission centered at 640 nm, which can be assigned as due to defects at the interface between nc-Si and SiOx as well as oxygen-related defects.

The undercooling behavior of pure Sn, Sn–0.7Cu, Sn–3.5Ag, and Sn–3.8Ag–0.7Cu solder alloys was observed in terms of various under bump metallurgies (UBMs). Four different UBMs (electroplated Cu, electroplated Ni, electroless Ni(P), and electroless Ni(P)/immersion Au) were used. The amount of the undercooling of Pb-free solder alloys was reduced when reacted with electroplated Cu UBM and Ni-based UBMs. The Ni-based UBMs were more effective than Cu UBM in reducing the undercooling of Pb-free solders. When Ni3Sn4 was formed during the interfacial reactions with Ni-based UBMs, the reduction of undercooling was significant, especially for pure Sn and Sn–3.5Ag. The effects of UBMs on the undercooing of Pb-free solder alloys are discussed by comparing intermetallic compounds formed during interfacial reactions with UBMs. In addition, the microstructural changes as well as the microhardness of four solders with or without UBMs are discussed, which could be related to their undercooling behaviors.

Current stressing at densities from 2.9 to 7.3 × 104 A/cm2 has significant effects on the atomic migration of eutectic SnBi solder alloys. At lower density (2.9 × 104 A/cm2), electromigration dominates the migration of both Sn and Bi, and drives Sn and Bi atoms to migrate toward the anode side. While at higher densities (4.4 and 7.3 × 104 A/cm2), the enhanced Bi electromigration induces a back stress, which promotes a reversed migration of Sn toward the cathode side. A large number of Sn atoms accumulate at the cathode side and form lumps there.

Macroscopic cracks in bulk silicon are generally considered to be immune to fatigue. Here, evidence for pronounced fracture-related fatigue damage in cyclic contact loading of (001) monocrystalline silicon with hard spheres of millimeter-scale radius is presented. The periodic indentation field generates ring cracks around the contact, which proliferate with continued cycling. Copious debris in the form of slabs and particulates is ejected from within the crack walls onto the specimen surface. Continued ejection leads ultimately to large-scale surface removal. The fatigue damage progressively degrades the material strength, more rapidly at higher contact load. Implications concerning the function of silicon devices, including microelectro-mechanical systems, will be briefly discussed.

The standard Oliver–Pharr nanoindentation analysis tacitly assumes that the specimen is structurally rigid and that it is both semi-infinite and homogeneous. Many specimens violate these assumptions. We show that when the specimen flexes or possesses heterogeneities, such as free edges or interfaces between regions of different properties, artifacts arise in the standard analysis that affect the measurement of hardness and modulus. The origin of these artifacts is a structural compliance (Cs), which adds to the machine compliance (Cm), but unlike the latter, Cs can vary as a function of position within the specimen. We have developed an experimental approach to isolate and remove Cs. The utility of the method is demonstrated using specimens including (i) a silicon beam, which flexes because it is supported only at the ends, (ii) sites near the free edge of a fused silica calibration standard, (iii) the tracheid walls in unembedded loblolly pine (Pinus taeda), and (iv) the polypropylene matrix in a polypropylene–wood composite.

Electricity generation is the main source of energy-related greenhouse gas emissions and lighting uses one-fifth of its output. Solid-state lighting using light-emitting diodes (LEDs) is poised to reduce this value by at least 50%, so that lighting will then use less than one-tenth of all electricity generated. LED lighting will provide reductions of at least 10% in fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions from power stations within the next 5–10 years. Even greater reductions are likely on a 10–20-year timescale.

Using classical molecular dynamics simulations, we have investigated the growth of {111} Cu on Nb {110} surface. Our results reveal that the deposited Cu layer initially grows as body-centered cubic (bcc) and Vernier misfits are observed in the interface of bcc Cu and bcc Nb. As it continues to grow, the bcc Cu {110} transforms into face-centered cubic (fcc) Cu {111}. The phase transition starts after the bcc Cu layer has accumulated about 3 monolayers and is finished depending on deposition parameters. Nuclei of fcc Cu {111} form in the top surface of Cu and grow in plane and toward the interface. Partial dislocations in the fcc Cu layer nucleate during the late stage of the transition, and the stacking faults grow as the Cu layer thickens.

Photovoltaics is not the only means of using sunlight to generate electricity. Another major solar technology is called “concentrating solar power” or CSP. CSP technologies use concentrating optics to generate high temperatures that are used to drive conventional steam or gas turbines. CSP is generally considered a central generation technology, rather than a source of distributed generation. That is, a large amount of power is generated in one location, with transmission and distribution to the various points of use, rather than generating small amounts of the power at numerous points of use. Because of this feature, CSP is predominantly a utility-scale source of power.

Subcentimeter wireless computers capable of interfacing physically with their environment and communicating with each other have progressed from concept to commercial reality in the past decade. Wireless sensor nodes are an exciting technology, as they provide a backbone to measure almost any quantity in a spatially disperse way, allowing time-synchronized correlations over meters or miles. Before these devices can be deployed to monitor and protect environments (such as grid power distribution systems, buildings, factories, or even the human body) for long periods of time, they need a power source. Environmental generation looks to be a promising method.

Crystal lines consisting of nonlinear optical fresnoite-type Ba2TiX2O8 (X = Si, Ge) crystals are patterned on the surface of CuO (1 mol%)-doped 33.3BaO–16.7TiO2–50SiO2 or –50GeO2 glasses by continuous-wave (cw) neodymium:yttrium aluminum garnet (Nd:YAG) laser (wavelength 1064 nm) irradiation. It is confirmed from polarized micro-Raman scattering spectra that the c axis of Ba2TiX2O8 crystals in the lines are oriented along the laser-scanning direction (i.e., parallel to the lines). The azimuthal dependences of second-harmonic (SH) intensities for the crystal lines indicate unique fringe patterns, and the c-axis orientation of the crystals is supported from the analyses of fringe patterns. The value of the d31/d33 ratio is found to be ∼23 for Ba2TiSi2O8 (BTS) crystal lines, and ∼13 for Ba2TiGe2O8 (BTG) crystal lines, where d31 and d33 are the principal d tensors for the second-order optical nonlinearity of fresnoite-type crystals.

A modified casting Al–Cu alloy with ultrahigh tensile strength and ductility of about 520 MPa and 13.5% was obtained by PrxOy addition. PrxOy was decomposed to form AlPrO3, which acted as the effective heterogeneous nuclei for the crystallization of the primary α–Al phase. The main reason for the simultaneous increase in the strength and ductility of the modified alloy may be attributed to the effect of a large number of regular, network, and homogeneous nanoscale θ′ phase precipitates and more crystal grain and dendrite boundaries formed by their refinement on restricting and impeding the dislocation actuation and movement.

A sustainable global energy system requires a transition away from energy sources with high greenhouse emissions. Vast energy resources are available to meet our needs, and technology pathways for making this transition exist. Lowering the cost and increasing the reliability and quality of energy from sustainable energy sources will facilitate this transition. Changing the world's energy systems is a huge challenge, but it is one that can be undertaken now with improvements in energy efficiency and with continuing deployment of a variety of technologies. Numerous opportunities exist for research in material sciences to contribute to this global-scale challenge.

Global energy demand is expected to increase steeply, creating an urgent need to evolve a judicious global energy policy, exploiting the potential of all available energy resources, including nuclear energy. With increasing awareness of environmental issues, nuclear energy is expected to play an important role on the energy scenario in the coming decades. The immediate thrust in the science and technology of nuclear materials is to realize a robust reactor technology with associated fuel cycle and ensure the cost competitiveness of nuclear power and to extend the service life of reactors to 100 years. Accordingly, the present-generation materials need to be modified to meet the demands of prolonged exposure to irradiation and extended service life for the reactor. Emerging nuclear systems incorporate features to ensure environmental friendliness, effective waste management, enhanced safety, and proliferation resistance and require development of high-temperature materials and the associated technologies. Fusion, on a longer horizon of about fve decades, also requires the development of a new spectrum of materials. The development of next-generation materials technology is expected to occur in short times and is likely to be further accelerated by strong international collaborations.