Materials are used in devices because of their unique properties such as electrical, magnetic, thermal, optical, mechanical and piezoelectric properties. The widely used material components are polymers, semiconductors, oxides and liquid crystals. The electronic materials are the principal elements in numerous device application and has its usage in daily electronic tools such as computers, mobile phones, LED bulbs and GPS devices. New materials and devices are designed to improve the optical, electronic, thermal and chemical performance of the existing devices. The present strategies of developing electronic materials and devices involves the synthesis and fabrication of materials with desired properties.

Energy storage is the capture of energy produced at one time for use later. A device that stores energy is sometimes called an accumulator. Energy comes in multiple forms including radiation, chemical, gravitational potential, electrical potential, electricity, elevated temperature, latent heat and kinetic. Energy storage encompasses converting energy from forms that are hard to store to more conveniently or economically storable forms. Bulk energy storage is dominated by pumped hydro, which accounts for 99% of global energy storage. Efficient energy storage is one of the key points to be solved for a successful development of renewable energies. In addition, the increasing demand for energy sources to power various portable equipment for microelectronics, safety, medical applications, army, smart phones, telecommunications, tools, etc. 

Advances in health care, energy, computing and numerous other fields depend on new findings in materials science. Next-generation materials include superomniphobic materials which are inspired by water bugs, super-light materials and active materials that react to changes in their environment and smart materials. Auxetic materials when stretched convert into a thicker perpendicular to the applied force that arises due to their hinge-like structures. Auxetics are useful in applications such as body armour, packing material, robust shock absorbing material, and sponge mops, knee and elbow pads. Thermally activated bimetals (Thermo-bimetals) allow for panes of glass capable of becoming shades when exposed to the sun. Smart materials are designed materials having one or more properties that can be significantly changed in a controlled fashion by external stimuli, such as stress, temperature, moisture, pH, electric or magnetic fields.

Nanomaterials are physical substances or materials with a typical dimension between 1-150nm which are the building blocks of applied nanotechnology. The properties of nanomaterials differ from those of bulk materials having unique optical, electronic and mechanical properties. Engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are designed and produced with novel physico-chemical properties for a specific application from minerals and other chemical substance. Nanomaterial research is a material science based approach to nanotechnology which has its application in healthcare, electronics, cosmetics, optics, catalysis, pharmaceutics, energy conservation and other fields.

As the global demand for energy is increasing on a higher frequency, materials are the key aspects of new technologies for renewable energy sources, supercapacitors, energy storage in batteries, thermoelectric devices, energy conversion through solar cells and fuel cells. The dynamic research areas comprise clean energy conversion, biofuels, hydrogen generation and fuel cells. Materials for energy can help to produce efficient sources of energy to meet the present concerns and is a key driver for our society.

Material science plays a significant role in metallurgy. Powder metallurgy is a term that covers varied methodologies in which materials or components are made from metal powders. The metal removal processes can be avoided to decrease the costs. Pyro metallurgy embraces thermal treatment of minerals and metallurgical ores and concentrates to bring about physical and chemical transformations in the materials to allow retrieval of valued metals. A broad data of metallurgy can support us to extract the metal in a more possible manner. The extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth is called as Mining and Metallurgy is the field of Materials Science that deals with physical and chemical nature of the metallic & intermetallic compounds and alloys. Diverse methods and skills used in the extraction and production of various metals are extraction of metals from ores, purification; Metal casting Technology, plating, spraying, etc. in the series of processes, the metal is subjected to thermogenic and cryogenic conditions to analyses the corrosion, strength & toughness of the metal.

The study of physical and chemical process that ensues by merging of two steps, with solid–liquid/ solid–gas/ solid–vacuum/ liquid–gas interfaces is termed as Surface Science. The real application of surface science in associated fields like chemistry and physics is known as Surface Engineering. Surface Chemistry accomplishes the modification of chemical composition of a surface by introducing functional groups and other elements whereas Surface physics deals with the physical changes that occur at interfaces. Techniques involved in Surface engineering are spectroscopy methods such as X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, low-energy electron diffraction, electron energy loss spectroscopy, Auger electron spectroscopy, Thermal desorption spectroscopy, ion scattering spectroscopy and secondary ion mass spectrometry, etc.

Biomaterial is defined as a substance that has been engineered to interact with components of living system for both therapeutic and diagnostic purpose. Biomaterials are natural components or it can be synthesized in the laboratory employing metals, ceramics, polymers and composite materials. Biomaterials covers the fundamentals of medicine, biology, chemistry, tissue engineering and materials science.The biomaterial science also includes polymer synthesis, drug design, self-assembly of materials, immunology and toxicology. Biomaterials has its wide usage in drug delivery, dental application, surgery and regenerative medicine that mimics the natural function.  The current research focuses on combining biomedical science and material engineering to produce bioactive materials for numerous medical application.

Emerging technologies are categorized by fundamental novelty, comparatively fast growth, consistency, prominent impact and ambiguity. Characterization refers to the broad and general process by which a material's structure and properties are probed and measured. It is a fundamental process in the field of materials science, without which no scientific understanding of engineering materials could be determined. The scope of the term often varies; some limit them to techniques which study the microscopic structure and properties of materials, while others use the term to refer to any materials analysis process including macroscopic techniques such as mechanical testing, thermal analysis and density calculation. The scale of the structures observed in materials characterization ranges from angstroms, such as in the imaging of individual atoms and chemical bonds, up to centimeters, such as in the imaging of coarse grain structures in metals.

Polymer nanotechnology is one of the most popular area of current research as it involves the study and application of nanoscience to polymer-nanoparticle matrices, where nanoparticles are those with at least in measurement of less than 100 nm. Polymer nanotechnology focuses on polymer based biomaterials, self- assembled polymeric films, nanofabrication of polymers, polymer blends and nanocomposites. Polymer matrix based nanocomposites consist of polymer or copolymer having nanoparticles dispersed in the matrix. Silicon Nano spheres is the widely recognized Nano polymer that shows distinct characteristics and harder than silicon. Prior to the age of nanotechnology phase, polymer blends, block copolymer domain often achieves Nano scale dimensions. Nano-sized silica particles, zeolites and nanoparticle fillers has controlled the growth of products with improved properties such as thermal stability & conductivity, chemical resistance and tensile strength.

Materials that can be magnetized and attracted to a magnet are called ferromagnetic materials. These include iron, nickel, cobalt, some alloys of rare earth metals, and some naturally occurring minerals such as lodestone. Magnetic Smart Materials also have medical applications and it is projected that they will upsurge in the future. Examples are carrying medications to exact locations within the body and the use as a contrasting agent for MRI scans, assessing the risk of organ damage in hereditary hemochromatosis, determining the dose of iron chelator drugs required for patients with thalassemia, and Now-a-days Scientists are also working on the progress of synthetic magnetic particles that can be injected into the human body for the diagnosis and treatment of disease. Spintronic, also known as spin electronics or fluxtronics, is the study of the intrinsic spin of the electron and its associated magnetic moment, in addition to its essential electronic charge, in solid-state devices.

Materials science is a syncretic discipline hybridizing metallurgy, ceramics, solid-state physics, and chemistry. The interdisciplinary field of materials science also commonly termed materials science and engineering, interrelates the structure, properties and performance of materials. The roots of materials science emerge from the analytical thinking of researches in chemistry, physics and engineering. Most of the scientific problems humans presently face is due to the limits of the materials that are available. Thus, breakthroughs in materials science are likely to affect the future of technology significantly.

Materials science research, signifies a new category of materials with its own logic of effect that cannot be described simply in terms of the usual categories of heavy and light or form, construction, and surface.  The materials like Salmon leather, Wood-Skin flexible wood panel material, Re Wall Naked board, Coe Lux lighting system, Bling Crete light-reflecting concrete and many other new novelties have created astonishing and unique characteristics of the materials. Coelux lightening system where the scientists used a thin coating of nanoparticles to precisely simulate sunlight through Earth’s atmosphere and the effect known as Rayleigh scattering. Soft materials are another emerging class of materials that includes gels, colloids, liquids, foams, and coatings.   

Materials make up the current world around us, from the concrete in buildings and bridges to the advanced carbon fibres and ceramics in high-performance cars and even to the nanoparticles in self-cleaning bricks. Materials research is altering based on the design, build and new products. The practice of materials in industrial sector includes areas of mining, transport, chemical, oil and gas, pharmaceutical, aeronautical, food and medical. The current and future needs of human can be satisfied by industries in achieving the desired purpose on goods. The main materials produced by industries are metals, inorganic nonmetals and plastics.