Emerging devices and materials

Abstract

This chapter surveys the fast-moving landscape of emerging devices and materials that are reshaping electronics, photonics, energy, and biomedicine. We begin with the motivations beyond silicon limits and outline advances in flexible and wearable platforms—displays, skin-like sensors, and body-conformal systems—that enable continuous health and environment monitoring. We then profile quantum materials (topological insulators, 2D semiconductors, and quantum dots) alongside next-generation energy technologies, including solid-state batteries, supercapacitors, and perovskite solar cells, highlighting the performance gains and stability/sustainability challenges that steer current research. At the device level, we discuss advanced semiconductors (GaN power devices, silicon photonics, and organic semiconductors) that deliver higher speed, power density, and integration. Bridging biology and electronics, we review biocompatible implants, self-healing materials, and biohybrid systems that promise personalized therapies and regenerative interfaces. Finally, we examine nanotechnology-driven catalysts and medicines, as well as smart and sustainable materials (piezoelectrics, metamaterials, biodegradable polymers) that enable self-powered sensing, wave engineering, and circular-economy pathways. Across these domains, the chapter emphasizes cross-disciplinary design, scalable fabrication, low-toxicity alternatives, and life-cycle thinking as the keys to translating laboratory breakthroughs into human-centered, eco-conscious systems.