Volume 2 Issue 12, December 2017

Wood has great potential as a building material, because it is strong and lightweight, environmentally friendly and can be used in prefabricated buildings. However, only changes in building codes will make wood competitive with steel and concrete.

Auxetic materials deform in an unusual way when stretched or compressed; they are flexible and adaptable, and, if made from responsive materials, can react to their environment. This Comment explores the opportunities they offer for innovative applications in fashion, design and architecture.

Coherent perfect absorbers (CPAs) are electromagnetic structures in which the absorption of electromagnetic energy is assisted by the interference of incident waves. This Review summarizes the fundamental principles, implementations and promising applications of CPAs for the linear control of light with light.

Nanoscale semiconductor materials have large tolerance to lattice mismatches, which enables an almost arbitrary control of alloy composition and bandgap energy. In this Review, semiconductor alloy nanomaterials are examined, and their synthesis, properties and potential for applications — such as lasers, solid-state lighting and solar cells — are discussed.

Luminescent solar concentrators (LSCs) offer a unique opportunity to ‘invisibly’ integrate semi-transparent photovoltaic architectural elements, such as electrodeless glazing units, into the building envelope. This Review highlights the advancements making LSCs a realistic technology for near zero-energy buildings, along with the remaining challenges and strategies for further device optimization.

Designer materials and advanced fabrication technologies are transforming architecture, so that architects, engineers and materials scientists now work side by side to develop innovative architectural solutions. This Review follows these developments for different materials, in particular wood, ceramics, metals, concrete, glass, synthetic composites and polymers.