PV has traditionally been used for electric power in space. Solar panels on spacecraft are usually the sole source of power to run the sensors, active heating and cooling, and communications. Photovoltaics for Space: Key Issues, Missions and Alternative Technologies provides an overview of the challenges to efficiently produce solar power in near-Earth space and beyond: the materials and device architectures that have been developed to surmount these environmental and mission-specific barriers. The book is organized in four sections consisting of detailed introductory and background content as well as a collection of in-depth space environment, materials processing, technology, and mission overviews by international experts. This book will detail how to design and optimize a space power system's performance for power-to-weight ratio, effectiveness at end of operational life (EOL) compared to beginning of operational life (BOL), and specific mission objectives and goals. This book outlines the knowledge required for practitioners and advanced students interested in learning about the background, materials, devices, environmental challenges, missions, and future for photovoltaics for space exploration.

Lithium-sulfur (Li-S) batteries provide an alternative to lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries and are showing promise for providing much higher energy densities. Systems utilizing Li-S batteries are presently under development and early stages of commercialization. This technology is being developed in order to provide higher, safer levels of energy at significantly lower costs. Lithium-Sulfur Batteries: Advances in High-Energy Density Batteries addresses various aspects of the current research in the field of sulfur cathodes and lithium metal anode including abundance, system voltage, and capacity. In addition, it provides insights into the basic challenges faced by the system. The book includes novel strategies to prevent polysulfide dissolution in sulfur-based systems while also exploring new materials systems as anodes preventing dendrite formation in Li metal anodes.

Nanomaterials via Single-Source Precursors: Synthesis, Processing and Applications presents recent results and overviews of synthesis, processing, characterization and applications of advanced materials for energy, electronics, biomedicine, sensors and aerospace. A variety of processing methods (vapor, liquid and solid-state) are covered, along with materials, including metals, oxides, semiconductor, sulfides, selenides, nitrides, and carbon-based materials. Production of quantum dots, nanoparticles, thin films and composites are described by a collection of international experts. Given the ability to customize the phase, morphology, and properties of target materials, this "rational approach" to synthesis and processing is a disruptive technology for electronic, energy, structural and biomedical (nano)materials and devices. The use of single-source chemical precursors for materials processing technology allows for intimate elemental mixing and hence production of complex materials at temperatures well below traditional physical methods and those involving direct combination of elements. The use of lower temperatures enables thin-film deposition on lightweight polymer substrates and reduces damage to complex devices structures such as used in power, electronics and sensors.

The solutions to technical challenges posed by flight and space exploration tend to be multidimensional, multifunctional, and increasingly focused on the interaction of systems and their environment. The growing discipline of biomimicry focuses on what humanity can learn from the natural world. Biomimicry for Aerospace: Technologies and Applications features the latest advances of bioinspired materials-properties relationships for aerospace applications. Readers will get a deep dive into the utility of biomimetics to solve a number of technical challenges in aeronautics and space exploration. Part I: Biomimicry in Aerospace: Education, Design, and Inspiration provides an educational background to biomimicry applied for aerospace applications. Part II: Biomimetic Design: Aerospace and Other Practical Applications discusses applications and practical aspects of biomimetic design for aerospace and terrestrial applications and its cross-disciplinary nature. Part III: Biomimicry and Foundational Aerospace Disciplines covers snake-inspired robots, biomimetic advances in photovoltaics, electric aircraft cooling by bioinspired exergy management, and surrogate model-driven bioinspired optimization algorithms for large-scale and complex problems. Finally, Part IV: Bio-Inspired Materials, Manufacturing, and Structures reviews nature-inspired materials and processes for space exploration, gecko-inspired adhesives, bioinspired automated integrated circuit manufacturing on the Moon and Mars, and smart deployable space structures inspired by nature.

Silicon Anode Systems for Lithium-Ion Batteries is an introduction to silicon anodes as an alternative to traditional graphite-based anodes. The book provides a comprehensive overview including abundance, system voltage, and capacity. It provides key insights into the basic challenges faced by the materials system such as new configurations and concepts for overcoming the expansion and contraction related problems. This book has been written for the practitioner, researcher or developer of commercial technologies.

Photovoltaics Beyond Silicon: Innovative Materials, Sustainable Processing Technologies, and Novel Device Structures presents the latest innovations in materials, processing and devices to produce electricity via advanced, sustainable photovoltaics technologies. The book provides an overview of the novel materials and device architectures that have been developed to optimize energy conversion efficiencies and minimize environmental impacts. Advances in technologies for harnessing solar energy are extensively discussed, with topics including materials processing, device fabrication, sustainability of materials and manufacturing, and the current state-of-the-art. Contributions from leading international experts discuss the applications, challenges and future prospects of research in this increasingly vital field, providing a valuable resource for students and researchers working in this area.

Biomimicry for Materials, Design and Habitats: Innovations and Applications and is a survey of the recent work of recognized experts in a variety of fields who employ biomimicry and related paradigms to solve key problems of interest within design, science, technology, and society. Topics covered include innovations from biomimicry in materials, product design, architecture, and biological sciences. The book is a useful resource for educators, designers, researchers, engineers, and materials scientists, taking them from the theory behind biomimicry to real world applications. Living systems have evolved innovative solutions to challenges that humans face on a daily basis. Nonlinear multifunctional systems that have a symbiotic relationship with their environment are the domain of nature. Morphological solutions for buildings inspired by nature can be used for skins, surfaces, and structures to facilitate environmental adaptation of buildings to increase occupant comfort and reduce energy demands. Birds can teach us to produce novel structures, 3D printing can be informed by oysters and mussels, and mycelium may show us the way to fabricate new biocomposites in architecture. Therefore, it is in nature that we seek inspiration for the solutions to tomorrow's challenges.

This symposium was held to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA); it was also the 25th anniversary of the Materials Research Society. The coincidence of anniversaries provided an excellent opportunity to consider how materials science has contributed to the space program, and how it will continue to contribute to the future of space exploration. Living and working in space presents extreme challenges that have only begun to be met by the materials research community. This book brings together researchers from government, industry and university laboratories to discuss successes and ongoing research in the application of materials science to the space program. Topics include: space exploration; space photovoltaics; materials for energy conversion and storage; fundamental studies for advanced materials and devices; microgravity materials processing; and materials for space and other hostile environments. Commercial spin-offs from past space-related materials research are also featured.