Soft Solution Processing: Environmentally Benign Direct Fabrication of Shaped Ceramics (Nano-crystals, Whiskers, Films, and/or Patterns) without Firing

摘要

Why soft process is important? Modern human society has been developed by huge amounts of production, use and waste of advanced artificial materials, and by huge consumption of energies and resources. The flow of those materials and energies seems to be already saturated or even over saturated on the earth. World consumption of energy has already reached to critical sizes: 10% of total photosynthesis energy and 0.1 - 0.5% of total atmospheric (wind, wave, tide, etc.) energy on the earth. Therefore, we must eliminate rather than increase those materials and energies flows. Recycling of materials (wastes) is possible when we put more energies to the recycling process than the production/fabrication process, but it brings about more thermal contamination. In order to prevent such thermal contamination, we must consider total processing for useful materials from mining and up-grading of raw materials, then production/fabrication, transportation, usage, waste and until cycling/recycling of products by environmentally friendly ways.