Case Studies of Minerals which became Advanced Materials -- The actinide borates: A new impact on nuclear fuel conversion -- Ferroic walls and potential applications -- Determination of "unsolvable" structures of minerals -- Evaluation of the long-term performance of potential nuclear waste form materials: A mineralogical and experimental approach -- Microporous materials used in energy storage and energy conversion -- Heat capacity, entropy, and magnetic properties of jarosite-group compounds -- New insights into the ultra–fast synthesis of negative-thermal-expansion framework materials -- Geo-Inspired Phosphors Based on Rare-Earth Metal(III) Fluorides with Complex Oxoanions -- Rare-Earth Metal(III) Fluoride Oxosilicates Derivatized with Alkali or Alkaline- Earth Elements -- High-temperature piezoelectric materials - the renaissance of tourmaline -- Probing the Lattice Dynamics of Minerals with Inelastic X‐ray Scattering.

This book is a collection of papers that are devoted to various aspects of interactions between mineralogy and material sciences. It will include reviews, perspective papers and original research papers on mineral nanostructures, biomineralization, micro- and nanoporous mineral phases as functional materials, physical and optical properties of minerals, etc. Many important materials that dominate modern technological development were known to mineralogists for hundreds of years, though their properties were not fully recognized. Mineralogy, on the other hand, needs new impacts for the further development in the line of modern scientific achievements such as bio- and nanotechnologies as well as by the understanding of a deep role that information plays in the formation of natural structures and definition of natural processes. It is the idea of this series of books to provide an arena for interdisciplinary discussion on minerals as advanced materials.