High-Performance Rare Earth Materials

Dear Colleagues,

Rare earth elements play a significant role in the development of advanced materials with outstanding structural, magnetic, optical, electronic, catalytic, and electrochemical properties. Their unique electronic configurations, particularly those associated with partially filled 4f orbitals, enable a wide range of functionalities that are difficult to achieve using conventional materials. As a result, rare-earth-based compounds are increasingly important in fields such as energy conversion and storage, permanent magnets, solid-state lighting, photonics, catalysis, sensors, electronics, environmental technologies, and high-temperature applications.

At the same time, the growing demand for high-performance materials is creating new scientific and technological challenges related to resource availability, critical raw materials, processing efficiency, sustainability, recyclability, and the reduction of rare-earth content without compromising performance. These challenges stimulate the development of innovative compositions, advanced synthesis strategies, high-entropy and compositionally complex materials, nanostructured systems, multifunctional ceramics, and hybrid materials. Particular attention is also being devoted to establishing robust relationships among composition, crystal structure, microstructure, processing conditions, and functional properties, with the aim of designing next-generation materials with improved efficiency, durability, and sustainability.

This Special Issue, entitled “High-Performance Rare Earth Materials”, aims to present and disseminate the most recent advances in the design, synthesis, processing, characterization, modelling, and application of rare-earth-containing materials. We invite original research articles, reviews, and communications addressing both fundamental and applied aspects of rare-earth materials, with particular emphasis on innovative compositions, enhanced functional properties, advanced processing strategies, and emerging technological applications.

Contributions dealing with conventional rare-earth compounds as well as novel multicomponent, high-entropy, nanostructured, and multifunctional systems are particularly welcome. Studies combining experimental investigations with computational modelling, advanced characterization techniques, and materials-by-design approaches are also encouraged.

Topics of interest for publication include, but are not limited to:

• Synthesis and processing of rare-earth-based materials;
• Rare-earth oxides, ceramics, and inorganic compounds;
• High-entropy and compositionally complex rare-earth materials;
• Rare-earth magnetic materials and permanent magnets;
• Optical, luminescent, phosphorescent, and photonic materials;
• Rare-earth materials for solid-state lighting and optoelectronics;
• Electronic, dielectric, ferroelectric, and multiferroic materials;
• Rare-earth materials for energy conversion and energy storage;
• Battery and supercapacitor materials containing rare-earth elements;
• Electrocatalysis, photocatalysis, and heterogeneous catalysis;
• Rare-earth materials for hydrogen production, storage, and utilization;
• Thermoelectric and high-temperature functional materials;
• Rare-earth nanomaterials, nanoparticles, and nanostructured systems;
• Thin films, coatings, and surface-engineered rare-earth materials;
• Advanced structural and spectroscopic characterization;
• Structure–property and processing–microstructure–property relationships;
• Computational modelling, first-principles calculations, and materials informatics;
• Defect chemistry, ionic transport, and electronic transport phenomena;
• Mechanical, thermal, magnetic, and functional properties of rare-earth materials;
• Recycling, recovery, and circular-economy strategies for rare-earth elements;
• Sustainable extraction, synthesis, and processing routes;
• Emerging and multifunctional applications of rare-earth-based materials.

Through this Special Issue, we hope to bring together contributions from researchers working across materials science, chemistry, physics, engineering, and related disciplines, providing a comprehensive overview of current developments and future perspectives in the field of high-performance rare-earth materials.

Dr. Luca Spiridigliozzi
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-anonymized peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Materials is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• rare-earth materials
• rare-earth oxides
• high-entropy materials
• functional ceramics
• advanced materials
• energy materials
• magnetic materials
• optical and luminescent materials
• catalysis and electrocatalysis
• sustainable mate-rials and recycling