Materials for Sustainable Energy

Forty-eight articles published during the past ten years, selected from the journals Nature and Nature Materials (published by Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan), are presented along with an introductory essay emphasizing the need for sustainable energy that does not depend on fossil fuels, surveying research initiatives toward that end, and summarizing practical challenges associated with various methods of energy conversion and storage. The urgency of development in this arena involves both scientists and policy makers. While this collection of technical articles will undoubtedly serve to inform and inspire researchers, non-scientist policy makers probably wouldn't be able to follow the details but could nevertheless glean from this volume a sense of the technical complexities and the strengths and weaknesses of each materials-based solution. The selections are arranged in sections on photovoltaic cells, thermoelectric converters, batteries and supercapacitors, fuel cells, hydrogen generation and storage, and superconductors. The collection is not indexed. Annotation c2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)