Combinatorial approaches to materials discovery

Using a mixture of scientific intuition, iteration and serendipity, combina torial materials science is an approach to the discovery and study of new m aterials that combines high-speed chemical synthesis, high-throughput scree ning and high-capacity information processing to create, analyse and interp ret large numbers of new and diverse material compositions, Technology has now been developed that makes this powerful integration possible. The class es of materials under investigation include catalysts, luminescent, optical , magnetic and dielectric materials, and structural polymers.