The world is in short supply of energy. Along with environmental factors, it has become crucial for science to provide solutions. Energy Materials is a significant area of research in material science.The various aspects of energy include electrical power, comprising batteries, supercapacitors, thermoelectric energy conversion, photovoltaics, etc. Hydrogen is available in abundance, but catalysts are needed for the catalysis, so catalysts or porous solids have universal appeal in usage and applications. Then there are nuclear energy materials.Overall, energy materials have now captured the most attention worldwide in research and investment. This book covers various sections that are currently exploring energy solutions through materials.

Advances in the Chemistry and Physics of Materials is a compilation of topics on the recent developments in the areas of Materials Science.Materials Science has been a subject of major interest which has garnered significant attention over the years. Chemists and physicists have contributed extensively to this frontier research area and their synergistic efforts have led to the discovery of many new, exciting materials involving novel functions. In the light of the growing importance of the field of Materials Science, and owing to the fact that it is a subject that holds a lot of promise, internationally renowned Materials Chemist Prof. C.N.R Rao along with his colleagues at the School of Advanced Materials, at JNCASR, have compiled the contents of this book to highlight and showcase the emerging trends in materials science.It touches upon topics spanning over nanomaterials and various other classes of energy materials for harvesting, storage and conversion. The relatively new and exciting range of materials such as supramolecular, soft and biomaterials have been introduced and elucidated, in the book. Special emphasis has been laid on the synthesis, phenomena and characterization of these kinds of materials. Theoretical and Computational Chemistry has played an important role in the growth of Materials Science as a discipline, and the book covers a special topical session on the theoretical efforts in materials research.The book, packed with theory and practical aspects in a crisp and concise manner, aims to take the reader on an intense scientific expedition. The compilation provides an insight into the chemistry and physics of materials and presents up-to-date status reports which would, undoubtedly, be useful to practitioners, teachers and students.