MIT centers, laboratories, departments and programs provide a multi-faceted approach to solving the world's energy challenge.
Nanotechnology
Advanced materials are essential for significant performance improvements and for enabling novel technologies in practically all areas of energy production and efficient use. Nanotechnology, which involves controlling and manipulating matter at the nanometer scale (a few billionths of a meter), offers a host of inorganic and organic synthesis techniques for "designer" materials. Technologies such as fuel cell membranes, novel photovoltaic materials, batteries and ultracapacitors and heat transfer media are just a few examples where progress has already been linked to nanotechnology.
