The treatment of disorders of the nervous system poses a major clinical challenge. Development of neuromodulation (i.e., interfacing electronics to nervous tissue to modulate its function) has provided patients with neuronal-related deficits a new tool to regain lost function. Even though, in principle, electrical stimulation and recording by interfacing technology is simple and straightforward, each presents different challenges. In stimulation, the challenge lies in targeting the effects of stimulation on precise brain regions, as each region specializes for particular functions on a millimeter scale. In practice, our experience with deep brain stimulation for treating Parkinson’s disease reveals that stimulation of larger regions of the brain can be relatively well tolerated. However, the task of fabricating an ideal electrode that performs reliably for long periods of time has been daunting. The primary obstacle in successful interfacing comes from integration of electrodes (“foreign” material) into the nervous system (biological material). The second tier of complexity is added by the need for the electrodes to “sense” signals emanating from individual neurons, an estimated microenvironment of 10 to 20 microns in diameter. Materials design and technology impact electrode design—with their size, shape, mechanical properties, and composition all being actively optimized to enable chronic, stable recordings of neural activity. The articles in this issue discuss designing interfacing technology to “listen to the nervous system” from a materials perspective. These include identification of materials with a potential for in vivo development, electrodes with various material types, including natural nanocomposites, and optical neural interfacing.

Major challenges have emerged as microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) move to smaller size and increased integration density, while requiring fast response and large motions. Continued scaling to nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) requires revolutionary advances in actuators, sensors, and transducers. MEMS and NEMS utilizing piezoelectric thin films provide the required large linear forces with fast actuation at small drive voltages. This, in turn, provides accurate displacements at high integration densities, reduces the voltage burden on the integrated control electronics, and decreases NEMS complexity. These advances are enabled by the rapidly growing field of thin-film piezoelectric MEMS, from the development of AlN films for resonator and filter applications, to their implementation in adaptive radio front ends, to the demonstration of large piezoelectricity in epitaxial Pb(Zr,Ti)O3 and PbMg1/3Nb2/3O3–PbTiO3thin films. Applications of low voltage MEMS/NEMS include transducers for ultrasound medical imaging, robotic insects, inkjet printing, mechanically based logic, and energy harvesting. As described in this article, advances in the field are being driven by and are prompting advances in heterostructure design and theoretical investigations.

A brief history of atomic simulation as it was used in chemistry, physics, and materials science is presented starting with seminal work by Eyring in the 1930s through to current work and future challenges. This article provides the background and perspective needed to understand the ways in which reactive many-body potentials developed over the last three decades and have impacted materials research. It also explains the way in which this substantial impact on the field has been facilitated by increases in computational resources and traces the development of reactive potentials, which have steadily increased in complexity and sophistication over time. Together with the other contributions in this issue of MRS Bulletin, this article will help guide and inspire the next generation of computational materials scientists and engineers as they build on current capabilities to expand atomic simulation into new and exciting areas of materials research.

Electronics can be made on elastically stretchable “skin.” Such skins conform to irregularly curved surfaces and carry arrays of thin-film devices and integrated circuits. Laypeople and scientists intuitively grasp the concept of electronic skins; material scientists then ask “what materials are used?” and “how does it work?” Stretchable circuits are made of diverse materials that span more than 12 orders of magnitude in elastic modulus. We begin with a brief overview of the materials and the architecture of stretchable electronics, then we discuss stretchable substrates, encapsulation, interconnects, and the fabrication of devices and circuits. These components and techniques provide the tools for creating new concepts in biocompatible circuits that conform to and stretch with living tissue. They enable wireless energy transfer via stretchable antennas, stretchable solar cells that convert sunlight to electricity, supercapacitors, and batteries that store energy in stretchable electronic devices. We conclude with a brief outlook on the technical challenges for this revolutionary technology on its road to functional stretchable electronic systems.

Graphene came to the forefront in the nanosciences in the early 2000s, in particular, when high-quality graphene with atomic thickness and two-dimensional extension in the micrometer range was isolated and the resulting novel electronic properties were demonstrated. Graphene has two unique features: lateral size up to tens of micrometers or larger and quantum confinement in an atomically thin sheet. It provides an excellent platform for exploring novel material properties, designing new materials, and enhancing material performance. Now, after extensive research for nearly a decade, graphene research has moved well beyond electronic applications and has begun to extend into a wide variety of disciplines. This expanded issue of MRS Bulletin is focused on graphene and consists of 20 articles and three commentaries that collectively address the major impact of graphene on materials science, highlight the newest advances, discuss challenging issues, explore applications, and reveal future directions.

Gas-turbine engines used in transportation, energy, and defense sectors rely on high-temperature thermal-barrier coatings (TBCs) for improved efficiencies and power. The promise of still higher efficiencies and other benefits is driving TBCs research and development worldwide. An introduction to TBCs—complex, multi-layer evolving systems—is presented, where these fascinating systems touch on several known phenomena in materials science and engineering. Critical elements identified as being important to the development of future TBCs form the basis for the five articles in this issue of MRS Bulletin. These articles are introduced, together with a discussion of the major challenges to improved coating development and the rich opportunities for materials research they provide.

Resistive switching, the reversible modulation of electronic conductivity in thin films under electrical stress, has been observed in a wide range of material systems and is attributed to diverse physical mechanisms. Research activity in this area has been traditionally fueled by the search for a perfect electronic memory candidate but recently received additional attention due to a number of other promising applications, such as reconfigurable and neuromorphic computing. This issue of MRS Bulletin is devoted to current state-of-the-art understanding of the physics behind resistive switching in several major classes of material systems and their intrinsic scaling prospects in the context of electronic circuit applications. In particular, the goal of this introductory article is to review the most promising applications of thin-film devices and outline some of the major requirements for their performance.

In the scanning transmission electron microscope, multiple signals can be simultaneously collected, including the transmitted and scattered electron signals (bright field and annular dark field or Z-contrast images), along with spectroscopic signals such as inelastically scattered electrons and emitted photons. In the last few years, the successful development of aberration correctors for the electron microscope has transformed the field of electron microscopy, opening up new possibilities for correlating structure to functionality. Aberration correction not only allows for enhanced structural resolution with incident probes into the sub-Ångstrom range, but can also provide greater probe currents to facilitate mapping of intrinsically weak spectroscopic signals at the nanoscale or even the atomic level. In this issue of MRS Bulletin, we illustrate the power of the new generation of electron microscopes with a combination of imaging and spectroscopy. We show the mapping of elemental distributions at atomic resolution and also the mapping of electronic and optical properties at unprecedented spatial resolution, with applications ranging from graphene to plasmonic nanostructures, and oxide interfaces to biology.

The design and control of materials properties, often at the nanoscale, are the foundation of many new strategies for energy generation, storage, and efficiency. Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) has evolved into a very large toolbox for the characterization of properties spanning size scales from hundreds of microns to nanometers. Recent advances in SPM involve properties and size scales of precise relevance to energy-related materials, as presented in this issue. These advances are put into the general context of energy research, and the general principles are summarized.

Electrons and photons can coexist as a single entity called a surface plasmon—an elementary excitation found at the interface between a conductor and an insulator. Because of their hybrid electric and photonic nature, plasmons allow photons to be precisely controlled on the nanoscale. Plasmons are evident in the vivid hues of rose windows, which derive their color from small metallic nanoparticles embedded in the glass. They also provide the basis for color-changing biosensors (such as home pregnancy tests), photothermal cancer treatments, improved photovoltaic cell efficiencies, and nanoscale lasers. While surface plasmons were first identified nearly 55 years ago, many of their exciting applications are yet to come. This issue of MRS Bulletin reviews the progress and promise of plasmonics—from the characterization tools that have allowed nanometer-scale probing of plasmons to the new materials that may enable low-loss, active, and quantum plasmonics. Within reach are applications ranging from integrated plasmonic circuits for nanophotonic computation to plasmonic optical tweezers for manipulation of nano-sized particles and proteins.

Semiconductor nanowires, by definition, typically have nanoscale cross-sectional dimensions, with lengths spanning from hundreds of nanometers to millimeters. These subwavelength structures represent a new class of semiconductor materials for investigating light generation, propagation, detection, amplification, and modulation. After more than a decade of research, nanowires can now be synthesized and assembled with specific compositions, heterojunctions, and architectures. This has led to a host of nanowire photonic and electronic devices, including photodetectors, chemical and gas sensors, waveguides, LEDs, microcavity lasers, and nonlinear optical converters. Nanowires also represent an important class of nanostructure building blocks for photovoltaics as well as direct solar-to-fuel conversion because of their high surface area, tunable bandgap, and efficient charge transport and collection. This article gives a brief history of nanowire research for the past two decades and highlights several recent examples in our lab using semiconductor nanowires and their heterostructures for the purpose of solar energy harvesting and waste heat recovery.

Many technologies in the materials, manufacturing, energy, and water sectors that currently provide important benefits to humanity cannot continue indefinitely and must be directed toward a more sustainable path. In this article, we introduce the concept of sustainable development, discuss the critical roles that materials science plays in this field, and summarize the contents of the articles in this special issue of MRS Bulletin.