Progress in mesoscale science
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Introduction Over the last several decades and as frequently chronicled in the pages of MRS Bulletin, remarkable breakthroughs in nanoscale science have dramatically advanced our understanding of how materials work at the atomistic and quantum scales. These continuing fundamental advances at the nanoscale lay the foundation for understanding materials and phenomena at higher levels of complexity including, for example, defects, interfaces, heterogeneities, and composite structures, the domain of mesoscale science.1 A few years ago, we described the promise of mesoscale science in these pages.2 The remarkable progress made by the community in this short period of time demonstrates the rich untapped potential of the mesoscale.3,4 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 research.1,2 The last half-century, and especially the last decade, has witnessed a remarkable drive to observations at ever finer length and time scales that reveal the atomic, molecular, and nanoscale origins of macroscopic behavior. This reductionist approach has led us to understand materials phenomena in terms of the smallest fundamental building blocks—atoms, ions, electrons, spins, and photons. As depicted graphically in Figure 1, the highly successful reductionist approach of the last 50 years lays the
foundation for an equally rich journey in the opposite direction: A constructionist path that strategically combines the fundamental building blocks in new ways not found in nature, allowing new complexity and functionality to emerge at intermediate scales. The conceptual shift from reductionism to constructionism in no way lessens the importance or significance of the nanoscale. Rather, it causes us to further challenge and deepen our understanding of materials and phenomena at all levels. The constructionist path, from atomic, molecular, and nanoscale, to greater complexity and higher functionality at larger scales, presents a qualitatively new feature: Entirely new mesoscale configurations of matter that lead to previously undiscovered macroscopic behavior, phenomena, and functionality. Reductionist science reveals a single pathway down from a given macroscopic behavior to its atomic, molecular, and nanoscale roots. In contrast, constructionist science embraces multiple and diverse pathways up from atomic, molecular, and nanoscale phenomena to meso- and macroscale behavior; many of which can lead to new macroscale 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 emergence of mesoscale behavior from nanoscale origins is marked by distinctive features in six attributes: the
J.L. Sarrao, Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA; [email protected]
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