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Phil. Trans. R. Soc. A (2010) 368, 3225
doi:10.1098/rsta.2010.0105
P R E FAC E
Energy materials to combat climate change
The growing evidence for, and acceptance of, the role of anthropogenic
CO2 in contributing to potentially dangerous climate change clearly provides
a powerful incentive for the development of decarbonized forms of energy
generation and storage; indeed, the development of energy technologies that
are independent of fossil fuels is widely accepted as being of the highest
priority. However, the viability of such technologies is, in many cases, crucially
dependent on the fundamental properties of the materials employed, with
breakthroughs in materials science being essential for the successful deployment
of new technology. These considerations provided the stimulus for the Royal
Society Discussion Meeting on which this issue is based. The meeting aimed
to survey the present state-of-the-art in materials chemistry, physics and
engineering underlying contemporary non-carbon-based energy technologies, and
more importantly to identify those areas where fundamental developments in
materials science are needed. The meeting considered the challenges posed by
nuclear technologies (both fission and fusion), solar energy conversion, battery
and fuel-cell technologies and hydrogen storage and generation; but in addition
to the scientific and technological needs, societal and economic issues were also
debated. We hope that this issue helps to capture the excitement of the meeting
and also to illustrate the crucial role that fundamental research in materials
science will play in the development of energy technologies.
The editors are grateful to the officers and staff of the Royal Society for their
support for, and assistance with, the organization of the Discussion Meeting and
the preparation of this issue.
Peter Bruce1 , Richard Catlow2,∗ and Peter Edwards3
1
School of Chemistry, University of St Andrews,
St Andrews, KY16 9ST, UK
2
Department of Chemistry, University College London,
London, WC1H 0AH, UK
E-mail address: [email protected]
3
Department of Chemistry, Inorganic Chemistry Laboratory,
University of Oxford, Oxford, OX1 3QR, UK
∗
Author for correspondence.
One contribution of 13 to a Discussion Meeting Issue ‘Energy materials to combat climate change’.
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This journal is © 2010 The Royal Society