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The route to resource-efficient novel materials

Nature Materials volume 10, pages 899–901 (2011)Cite this article

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Combining the efforts of physicists, materials scientists, economists and resource-strategy researchers opens up an interdisciplinary route enabling the substitution of rare elements by more abundant ones, serving as a guideline for the development of novel materials.

Scarcity and possible future shortages of key elements used in modern technology has come into the focus of public interest and was the topic of a recent special issue of Nature Materials1. It is one of the most imminent challenges of modern materials science to develop new materials that enable replacement of rare elements by more abundant ones that have comparable or better functionalities than those currently used2,3. So far most scientists developing new functional materials are accustomed to using materials parameters as sole guidance in their research. It is equally important, however, to judge the economic merits and resource availability too. Incorporation of these interdisciplinary aspects at an early stage of the research has to be a key priority in future materials research and development.

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Figure 1: Comparison of several compounds including CDCs regarding their suitability as capacitors: CDC materials La15/8Sr1/8NiO4 (ref. 12) and CaCu3Ti4O12 (refs 4,6), ferroelectrics BaTiO3 (ref. 14) and barium-doped lead zirconate titanate (PBZT)13, ferroelectric SrTiO3:DyScO3 multilayers16, and the so-called relaxor ferroelectric Pb(Mg1/3Nb2/3)O3–PbTiO3 (PMN:PT)15.
Figure 2: World map of mineral deposits and reserves of TiO2 and BaSO4.
Figure 3: Time-development prospects of three CDC materials from the perspectives of materials science, resource strategy and resource management, including an extrapolation up to the year 2015.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via the TRR80.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Center for Electronic Correlations and Magnetism, Experimental Physics V, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    S. Krohns, P. Lunkenheimer & A. Loidl

  2. Department for Resource Strategy, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    S. Meissner & A. Reller

  3. Department for Finance, Information & Resource Management, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    B. Gleich & A. Rathgeber

  4. Department for Finance and Information Management, Business Administration and Economics, University of Augsburg, Augsburg, 86159, Germany

    T. Gaugler & H. U. Buhl

  5. Department for Materials Engineering, University of Sheffield, Sheffield, S1 3JD, UK

    D. C. Sinclair

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  1. S. Krohns
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Correspondence to P. Lunkenheimer.

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Krohns, S., Lunkenheimer, P., Meissner, S. et al. The route to resource-efficient novel materials. Nature Mater 10, 899–901 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat3180

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