Smart and Functional Materials

The “Smart and Functional Materials” Section under Materials is a forum for the rapid publication of research on the design, preparation, characterization, and application of smart and functional materials, as well as for understanding the relationships among the materials’ structure, properties, and functions.

Smart materials are designed to undergo controlled and often reversible changes in response to external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, light, electric or magnetic fields, pH, moisture, or chemical or biological stimuli. Functional materials, more broadly, are engineered to perform specific electrical, optical, magnetic, thermal, acoustic, sensing, or biomedical functions tailored to their intended applications.

Topics in this section include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Stimuli-responsive, adaptive, and programmable materials;
• Shape-memory and self-healing materials;
• Acoustic functional materials: Sound insulation materials, sound absorbing materials, and acoustic transducer materials;
• Thermal functional materials: Thermal insulation materials, thermally conductive materials, thermal expansion control materials, thermoelectric materials, phase change materials, radiative cooling materials, and thermal management materials;
• Piezoelectric, ferroelectric, magnetostrictive, chromogenic, optoelectronic, magnetic, and conductive functional materials;
• Functionally graded materials (FGMs);
• Electromagnetic wave-absorbing and stealth materials: Microwave absorbing materials, radar absorbing materials, and related stealth materials;
• Sensing and imaging materials;
• Smart and functional materials for devices and systems: Sensors, actuators, soft robotics, and artificial muscles; wearable, flexible, and stretchable electronics; and energy harvesting, conversion, and storage devices;
• Smart and functional materials for biomedical and healthcare applications;
• Smart materials with smart structures, including micro- or nano-structures, especially, but not limited to, soft robotics applications;
• Color-changing smart materials due to temperature (thermo-chromic), light (photo-chromic), electric field (electro-chromic), stress (mechano-chromic), and chemicals (chemo-chromic);
• Shape-changing smart materials due to stress, temperature, light, electric field, and chemicals;
• Stiffness-changing smart materials;
• Meta-materials including mechanical meta-materials, optical meta-materials, electromagnetic meta-materials, acoustic meta-materials, and thermal meta-materials.