Functional materials

摘要

Functional materials are an essential part of our everyday lives. This is apparent from the silicon chip with its ever-increasing power, the light-emitting materials at the heart of today's telecommunications, or DVD players, novel liquid crystal displays and magnetic materials used in recording devices. Functional materials are ubiquitous. New materials with improved functionality will be in demand in the marketplace and materials exhibiting more than one degree of functionality will appear to provide even more applications. The objective of the Foresight Functional Materials Taskforce was to examine the field of functional materials, and recommend areas for particular attention and potential investment. The area of functional materials represents those materials that have electronic, optical or magnetic properties, and can be differentiated from 'smart' materials, which form the basis of another report in the series.