%0 Journal Article
%T Grand challenges for Translational Materials Science
%A Oliver Hayden
%J Frontiers in Materials
%D 2014
%I Frontiers Media
%R 10.3389/fmats.2014.00005
%X Materials are undoubtedly the hidden champions of healthcare, biotechnology or energy innovations, nevertheless, novel materials are not automatically translated into products. The success of functional materials is not a matter of luck; it is the result of years of failure and the painstaking design of the fundamental translational steps from materials science to real-world prototypes. Connect scientists and engineers for materials innovation The need for a tight collaboration in the discovery-to-product translation process between scientists and engineers is often underestimated. The genius of these two communities is equally important; not only for the integration of novel materials into functional devices but also for the adaptation to the ever changing constraints of the market. Translational Materials Science reacts to the need of filling the communication gap among different players of the translation process and provides an optimal platform of sharing the information related to the efforts connecting basic science to product launch. Market needs and materials applications evolve in parallel and continuously affect each other, just as in the case of the crack-resistant glass for smart phones or the photoresist for lithography for true nanoscale CMOS field-effect transistors. Furthermore, materials innovation requires public-private partnership instead of the current practice of small teams and black box thinking due to the necessity for high and long-term investments. A beautiful example on how translation occurs is the hype on bottom-up synthesized semiconducting nanowires that triggers CMOS top-down nanowire engineering work to rescue Moore¡¯s law with novel device architectures and hybrid semiconductors of group IV and III-V semiconductors for higher charge carrier mobilities. In the fields of biotechnology, in-vitro diagnostics and therapy the facile synthesis of magnetic nanoparticles with biological coatings. This innovation changed fundamentally our understanding of how to benefit from magnetism to separate, enrich, and label biological specimen without the need for invasive or cumbersome methods. For instance today we can use magnetic nanoparticles to enrich specimen for in-vitro diagnostics without the need for centrifugation steps which enables highly-automated preanalytical workflows. The last example is related to efficient energy storage which is fundamental for our mobile world. Only the high energy storage capacity and the exquisite recharging properties of lithium-ion batteries enabled today¡äs mobile communication world which would
%K Materials Science
%K Engineering
%K healthcare
%K Industry
%K Energy
%K CMOS
%K solar cell
%K Nanowires
%K innovation
%K Translational research
%K energy storage
%K diagnostics
%K Biotechnology
%K prototypes
%K product
%K Lithium ion battery
%K crack resistant
%U http://www.frontiersin.org/Journal/10.3389/fmats.2014.00005/full