Board on Chemical Sciences and Technology & Committee on Challenges for the Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century 
Materials Science and Technology [PDF ebook] 
Challenges for the Chemical Sciences in the 21st Century

The report assesses the current state of chemistry and chemical engineering at the interface with materials science and identifies challenges for research. Recent advances are blurring the distinction between chemistry and materials science and are enabling the creation of new materials that, to date, have only been predicted by theory. These advances include a greater ability to construct materials from molecular components, to design materials for a desired function, to understand molecular "self-assembly, and to improve processes by which the material is "engineered" into the final product.