High-Throughput Analysis: A Tool for Combinatorial Materials Science

This book, edited by Potyrailo and Amis, addresses a new paradigm-shifting approach in the search for new materials-Combinatorial Materials Science. One way to consider such an approach is to imagine an adventurous chef who decides to look for new entrees by cooking food ingredients in many pots using different combinations in every pot, and boil­ ing, steaming, or frying them in various ways. Although most of the pots will not have the tastiest food ever devised, some recipes will taste intriguing, and some eventually will lead to a discovery of a new fascinating cuisine. Of course, having a skilled chef design the com­ binatorial formulation will certainly be helpful in ensuring a successful outcome. Similar to food, each engineering material is a complex product of its chemical composition, structure, and processing. Generally, each of these components matters---change one and you get another material. Most of these "new" materials will be less good than ones we use now since existing materials have been refined with the extensive work of scientists and engi­ neers. At the same time if one prepares diverse materials like our adventurous chef, chang­ ing material composition, processing conditions and time, etc. , some of these materials will be superior to existing ones and a few might represent breakout technology.