As Editor-in-Chief of NPG Asia Materials, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to the first full issue of NPG Asia Materials. This quarterly publication presents original, peer-reviewed review articles covering some of the most progressive topics in materials science. I hope that you find the reviews informative, stimulating and interesting.

The importance of materials science, in pure and applied research, has been growing ever more rapidly in recent years. Its cross-disciplinary nature — intersecting with basic science such as chemistry, physics and biology, as well as applications such as nanotechnology, photonics and information technology — makes materials science a must-read field for a wide range of researchers.

The publication of original articles in NPG Asia Materials has been a key aim of the project ever since it was set up by a collaboration between NPG Asia-Pacific and the Education and Research Center for Material Innovation, a Global Center of Excellence at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. That we are able to publish three timely and original reviews from distinguished materials scientists from the Asia-Pacific countries in this issue is a clear indication of the growing strength of the field, not just in Japan but also across the entire region. It is our firm belief that this strength will be further attested in the many review articles that will be published in subsequent issues of the journal.

However, the ambitions of NPG Asia Materials do not end at the borders of the Asia-Pacific basin or with the publication of review articles alone. This latest phase of the NPG Asia Materials project is just a starting point en route to the establishment of a journal that, in addition to reviews, will ultimately publish important, primary research articles from a global readership, to a global readership.

I hope you will agree with me that the first full issue of NPG Asia Materials and its first set of review articles is a major step towards that goal.

Hideo Takezoe

Editor-in-Chief

NPG Asia Materials