Farewell 2012

So here we are entering the last few weeks of 2012; a year that has simply flown by. Perhaps the reason it seems to have passed so quickly for me, is that it has been a year full of change here on Materials Today. This year has brought about a new Editorial team (with a new Editor, Associate Editor and Editorial Assistant), the completion of our switch into an Open Access journal, the launch of the Materials TodayChannels on the website, and a relaunch of our online blog. Speaking of the blog, we've now enabled the user comments section – so head over to www.materialstoday.com/blog and let us know what you think.

There have also been many smaller tweaks and changes, too numerous to mention; as well as the development of some new changes and additions to come next year – including many, many more webinars: which will kick off with a webinar on the 15th of February, looking at advanced nanofabrication techniques using multiple ion beam microscopy, in association with Carl Zeiss. If you have any topics you'd like to see covered in our webinars, then let us know by emailing us at materialstoday@elsevier.com.

In my last two Editorials I mentioned that we were working on our latest Virtual Conference, which launched on the 11th Decmber. I'd like to thank not only all the speakers and those of you that submitted posters, but also everyone that attended. You helped make the event our biggest yet, with over 1200 delegates visiting over the three live days. And even though the live Question & Answer sessions have closed, as have the selection of the Editor's And Delegates' Choice poster award, all of the content will be available to access online for the next 12 months. We received so many posters that we were unable to feature them all – and so next time we'll be taking extra steps to try and accommodate many more of your submissions. If you have any comments regarding the Virtual Conference, please do get in touch in the usual way.

This month's issue features three reviews focussed around materials for energy. To begin, Zhong Lin Wang discusses progress in the development of nanogenerators, and the emergence of a new paradigm in nanotechnology and energy. Next, Linjie Zhi and colleagues outline Sn-based nanomaterials with different dimensionalities from 0D to 3D, and their potential as anode materials in lithium ion batteries. Kung-Hwa Wei and co-workers take a look at organic photovoltaics and review the materials and structures of novel photovoltaics. And finally, on a different note, Ferrari et al. review the state of the art the preparation, production, placement, and handling of graphene and othe two-dimensional materials, in our first Extended Review. This is the first time we've published a longer form review article in Materials Today, and we'd like to know what you think.

Until next time, we hope you enjoy this issue of Materials Today.