Guest Editorial The Materials Science of Fuel Cells

It is my pleasure to introduce this special section of the Journal of Materials Science entitled “The Materials Science of Fuel Cells”. Whilst fuel cells are not necessarily new technology – the concept was identified in the mid 19th century – there has been a phenomenal growth in the development of this technology over the past 30–40 years as the need to provide alternative power sources was identified. It is the commercial interest in fuel cell technology that has promoted the intense activity in this field and it is only now that this research effort is being translated in to commercially viable fuel cell devices.