Opportunities for mesoscale science
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Introduction Mesoscale science, where atomic granularity, quantization of energy, and simplicity of structure and function give way to continuous matter and energy, complex structures, and composite functionalities, is a broad and rich horizon for innovative materials and chemistry.1 The last half-century, and especially the last decade, has witnessed a remarkable reductionist drive to observations at ever smaller length and time scales that reveal the atomic, molecular, and nanoscale origins of macroscopic behavior.2,3 We have now begun to reverse this journey, using our still-developing knowledge of nanoscale phenomena and tools4 to devise new mesoscale architectures (see “Mesoscale architectures”) that promote the emergence of new behavior leading to new functionality and ultimately new technology.5,6 This constructionist path up from atomic, molecular, and nano to the greater complexity and higher functionality of mesoscopic length scales presents a qualitatively new feature: entirely new mesoscale configurations of nanoscale building blocks that lead to previously undiscovered macroscopic behavior, phenomena, and functionality.7 Reductionist science reveals a single pathway down from a given macroscopic behavior to its atomic, molecular, and nanoscale roots; in contrast, constructionist science embraces many diverse pathways up from atomic, molecular, and nanoscale phenomena to meso- and macroscale behavior, many of which lead to new macroscopic outcomes that remain to be discovered and explored. This rich opportunity
for discovering and controlling new macroscopic behavior by manipulating mesoscale architectures and emergent phenomena is the essence of mesoscale science. The identification of mesoscale science as a rich opportunity for discovering and controlling new materials is a natural outcome of the robust and disciplined strategic planning process documenting the need and the opportunity for fundamental materials and chemistry research led by the US Department of Energy’s Office of Basic Energy Sciences. The capstones of this process are three reports: Science for Energy Technology, New Science for a Secure and Sustainable Energy Future, and Directing Matter and Energy: Five Challenges for Science and the Imagination.8 The first articulates the critical need for innovation and the essential role of basic science in that pursuit. The second emphasizes the new era of science that is upon us, fueled by advances in tools and fundamental knowledge, especially at the nanoscale, which define the opportunity. The third articulates the promising grand challenges facing researchers that, if overcome, would open broad new horizons to shape and control natural phenomena for human benefit. A central theme of these reports is the importance of atomic and molecular scale understanding of how nature works and the application of this knowledge to urgent societal challenges such as energy, the economy, and the environment.9,10 There is a growing realization that the mesoscale organization of atomic and molecular phenomena is
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