Materials are employed in devices because of their particular properties, including electrical, thermal, magnetic, mechanical, ferroelectric, and piezoelectric. This book highlights current materials development in gas sensors, optical devices, mechanoelectrical devices, and medical and biological devices.

Sam Zhang Shanyong, better known as Sam Zhang, earned a BE in materials in 1982 at Northeastern University (Shenyang, China), a ME in materials in 1984 at Iron & Steel Research Institute (Beijing, China), and a PhD in ceramics in 1991 at The University of Wisconsin - Madison, USA. Since 2006 he has been a tenured full professor at the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Nanyang Technological University. In January 2018 he joined the School of Materials and Energy, Southwest University, Chongqing, China, and became Director of the Centre for Advanced Thin Film Materials and Devices at the university.

Professor Zhang is the founding Editor-in-Chief for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology Letters (2008-December 2015) and Principal Editor for Journal of Materials Research (USA) responsible for thin films and coating field (since 2003). Since 2009 he has served as the founding and current president of the world's first Thin Films Society (www.thinfilms.sg).

1. Two-Dimensional Materials in Photoconductive Detectors. 2. UV Stability of Organic Solar Cells. 3. Absorption Enhancement in Photonic-Structured Organic Solar Cells. 4. Recent Advances in Gas Sensors for Device Applications. 5. The Sputtered Thin Films as the Sensing Materials for the MEMS Gas Sensors. 6. Electron Retarding Materials Making More Efficient Light-Emitting Devices. 7. Thin-Film Thermoelectrics: Materials, Devices, and Applications. 8. Smart Piezoelectric Films for Sensors and Actuators Applications. 9. Nanomaterials for Lithium(-ion) Batteries. 10. Applications of Thin Films in Metallic Implants. 11. Flexible Sensors for Biomedical Applications Based on Elastic Polymers.