Smart Ceramics ─ Preparation, Properties and Applications

Smart ceramic materials have attracted researchers’ and scientists’ attention thanks to their potential to achieve better and some unusual material properties by manipulating the length scale at the nanoscale. Smart ceramics have been synthesized to ensure the control of particle size, surface contamination, and degree of agglomeration. The sol-gel route has been utilized mainly for the synthesis of smart ceramics due to its ability to produce a large variety of compositions and ensure homogeneous mixing of the constituent particles at low temperature.

This book describes the innovation in technologies through the development of functionalized ceramic materials for energy, environment, and health care applications. It describes the recent and expected challenges along with potential solutions for advanced techniques for the synthesis and characterization of nanostructure ceramics and their composites: bioceramics, bioactive ceramics, multifunctional nanoceramics, transparent ceramics, nanocore-shells, nanowires, thin films, nanotubes, and nanorods. The applications include environment, health care, electrochemical sensor, high-temperature superconductor, nuclear reactor fuel, electrical insulator, refractory material, electrical transformers, and magnetic core memory. The book will benefit researchers, scientists, engineers, and technologists working in the industry, national/international research laboratories, and academia with interest in traditional and advanced smart ceramic composites and students pursuing their postgraduate, graduate, and undergraduate degrees in smart ceramics, nanomaterials, nanoscience, and engineering.

Ajay Kumar Mishra is full professor at the Nanotechnology and Water Sustainability Research Unit at the College of Science, Engineering and Technology, University of South Africa, Florida Science Campus, South Africa, and adjunct professor at Jiangsu University, China. He received his BSc and MSc degrees from Purvanchal University, Uttar Pradesh, India, in 1997 and 2001, respectively, and MPhil and PhD degrees from the University of Delhi, India, in 2003 and 2007, respectively. His research interests include water research and the synthesis of multifunctional nanomaterials, nanocomposites, biopolymer- and petrochemical-based biodegradable polymers, polymer-based materials/composites, smart materials, and carbon nanotube- and graphene-based composite materials. Prof. Mishra has authored more than 100 scientific papers, collaborated with researchers, scientists, and postdocs in his group and worldwide, and delivered many plenary, keynote, and invited lectures. For his outstanding research, he has been bestowed with a number of awards. He has served as an associate editor as well as a member of the editorial board of many peer-reviewed international journals. He has edited several books by renowned publishers and has also been a reviewer for many international journals. Prof. Mishra serves as an advisory board member of a number of international scientific societies, conferences, and workshops.