This volume includes seven chapters that present recent updates in materials science research. Chapter One reviews recent theoretical investigations on designing single-atom catalysts as efficient electrocatalysts in key energy conversion reactions including the oxygen evolution reaction, hydrogen evolution reaction, oxygen reduction reaction, and carbon dioxide reduction reaction. Chapter Two investigates the potential of zirconium-based adsorbents for the sequestration of dyes and heavy metals from water bodies. Chapter Three highlights the active centers of catalytic synthesis of ammonia on a sequence of single-atom catalysts, metal alloys and clusters using density functional theory calculations, semi-empirical calculations, microkinetic modeling and experimental data. Chapter Four deals with the application of zirconium and zirconium alloys in the biomedical field. Chapter Five summarizes the latest commercially available strategies for reducing and replacing the use of toxic and polluting sanitizing agents in the food industry while still allowing for a long-lasting effect against bacterial contamination. Chapter Six includes the results of a study of metal matrix composites for identification of non-agglomerated nanodiamonds. Lastly, Chapter Seven shows that electron tunneling through a potential barrier that separates two colloidal quantum dots of germanium leads to the splitting of electron states localized over spherical interfaces.
