Skip to main content

Smart Thin Films and Nanomaterials for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Beyond

  • 1st Edition - December 1, 2026
  • Latest edition
  • Editors: Velumani Subramaniam, Ruthramurthy Balachandran, H. C. Ananda Murthy, Kar Ban Tan, Selvakumar Periyasamy
  • Language: English

Smart Thin Films and Nanomaterials for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Beyond provides an overview of various smart thin films and nanomaterials, offering detailed inform… Read more

Description

Smart Thin Films and Nanomaterials for the Fourth Industrial Revolution and Beyond provides an overview of various smart thin films and nanomaterials, offering detailed information on their synthesis, properties, and applications that utilize their interesting electrical, magnetic, and optical properties. The background and fundamentals of various types of smart materials are addressed throughout the book, in addition to important aspects such as the difficulty of processing control, optimization of sample synthesis, and materials design challenges. By providing insights into these functional materials, the book presents potential pathways for exploring novel phases, optimizing their properties, and tailoring them to suitable forms prior to prototype testing for a range of applications. Smart nanomaterials are notable for their advantages over other materials in the areas of cost, ease of processing, and tunable magnetic, electrical, and optical properties, and they show great promise for the development of the Fourth Industrial Revolution and beyond. From this perspective, the book focuses on different classes of smart nanomaterials targeting a broad spectrum of disciplines and applications – including engineering, medicine, biotechnology and materials science – that are all closely aligned with the ongoing evolution of Industry 4.0.

Key features

  • Provides in-depth coverage of smart films and nanomaterials, with emphasis on advanced synthesis and fabrication methods
  • Clearly discusses the relationships between composition, structure, and properties of functional materials
  • Addresses specific difficulties encountered in the development of nanomaterials such as process control and design challenges

Readership

Researchers and students working in nanomaterial preparation and characterization, nanoelectronics, and engineering materials

Table of contents

SECTION I

1. Introduction to smart thin film and nanomaterials: The Fourth Industrial Revolution and beyond

2. Smart Organic Thin Films: Synthesis and Applications

3. Thin-film electronics on active substrates: Review of materials, technologies and applications

4. Lignin-based smart materials: a roadmap to processing and synthesis for current and future applications

SECTION II

5. Developments in 4D-printing: A review on current smart materials, technologies, and applications

6. Physical methods of synthesizing smart nanomaterials, characterizations and applications

7. Chemical methods of synthesizing smart nanomaterials, characterizations and applications

8. Smart thin films deposited by matrix-assisted pulsed laser evaporation

9. Biological methods of synthesizing smart nanomaterials, characterizations and applications

SECTION III

10. Synthesis of smart nanomaterials for electronic applications

11. 2D materials inks toward smart flexible electronics

12. Synthesis of smart nanomaterials for electromagnetic applications

13. ZnSe/FTO thin films: Towards smart multifunctional optoelectronic materials

SECTION IV

14. Recent advances in binary oxides for chromogenics and beyond: Fundamentals, progress, and perspectives

15. Wide-bandgap materials for gas sensors

16. Smart tungsten oxide thin films for eye-readable sensor: Intuitive hydrogen monitoring

17. Thin-film switchable mirror coatings for smart windows via gasochromic technology

SECTION V

18. Recent Advances in Layered MX2-Based Materials (M = Mo, W and X = S, Se, Te) for Emerging Optoelectronic and Photo(electro)catalytic Applications

19. Synthesis of smart nanomaterials for optical applications

20. Synthesis of smart nanomaterials for photonic applications

21. Smart triboelectric nanogenerators

22. Synthesis of smart nanomaterials for solar and photovoltaic applications

SECTION VI

23. Application of smart nanomaterials in biomedical research

24. Titanium dioxide nanoparticles to enable photocatalytically active antimicrobial surfaces for biomedical devices

25. Zinc oxide-based devices for tunable and multifaceted biomedical applications

26. Promising two-dimensional rhenium diselenide nanosheets: Facile preparation, characterization, in vivo tumor photoacoustic imaging and photothermal therapy

SECTION VII

27. Characterization of smart oxide thin films: Image-driven machine learning

28. Shape morphing smart 3D actuator materials for micro soft robot

29. Nanotechnology and its influences on manufacturing sector prospects and challenges

30. Current Challenges and Future Directions of Smart Nanomaterials and Thin Films

Product details

  • Edition: 1
  • Latest edition
  • Published: December 1, 2026
  • Language: English

About the editors

VS

Velumani Subramaniam

Velumani Subramaniam is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University, United States. He is presently working on novel micro- and nano-structured materials for harvesting renewable energy and for biomedical applications.

Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Texas A&M University, USA

RB

Ruthramurthy Balachandran

Ruthramurthy Balachandran is a Professor in the Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering at Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia. His research focuses on electronic materials, nanomaterials, and nanoelectronics.

Affiliations and expertise
Professor, Department of Electronics and Communication Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia

HM

H. C. Ananda Murthy

H. C. Ananda Murthy is a Professor of Inorganic Chemistry in the Department of Applied Chemistry at the Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea. His areas of research interest covers the synthesis and application of composite materials and nanomaterials for biomedical, sensor, and environmental applications.

Affiliations and expertise
Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, Department of Applied Chemistry, Papua New Guinea University of Technology, Lae, Papua New Guinea

KT

Kar Ban Tan

Kar Ban Tan is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at Universiti Putra Malaysia. His research interests focus on the synthesis and characterization of functional electroceramics using different spectroscopic and microscopic techniques.

Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Universiti Putra Malaysia

SP

Selvakumar Periyasamy

Dr. Selvakumar Periyasamy is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Adama Science and Technology University. He earned his PhD in Chemical Engineering from the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India. His academic profile combines teaching, graduate supervision, and research in bioenergy, nanotechnology, biochemical engineering, and environmental biotechnology. He has supervised numerous undergraduate and postgraduate projects, published in high-impact journals, and contributed book chapters, patents, and international conference proceedings. He has also served as an editorial board member, reviewer, and organizer of academic events. His interdisciplinary experience strengthens the methodological and application-oriented dimensions of this proposal, particularly at the interface of materials design, process engineering, and environmental sustainability.
Affiliations and expertise
Associate Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering, Adama Science and Technology University, Ethiopia