The electronic and optical properties of micro- and nanostructured materials like alloys, crystallites, ceramics, and functionally graded materials are attracting considerable research interest, from both the academic and the industrial communities. Micro- and nanomaterials research is expected to play an increasing role in the safe, reliable, and efficient use of energy. The synthesis, modeling, and characterization of innovative micro- and nanomaterials as well as the design and optimization of the related functional devices have tremendous potentiality in enabling advantages of the current and future photonic applications in the energy-related sectors including renewable energy harvesting, building thermal insulation, solar energy conversion, storage and savings, solar-thermal systems, energy saving technologies, energy-efficient communication technologies and lighting systems, and a lot of other areas.

We invite researchers to contribute original research articles as well as review articles describing the state-of-the-art, theoretical, and applicative advances, new experimental discoveries, and novel technological improvements of micro- and nanostructured materials and related photonic devices for energy applications. Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Energy harvesting and energy conversion devices
• Antennas for photovoltaics and solar collectors
• Materials and device design for efficient light sources
• Up and down converters for photovoltaic applications
• Nanoparticles
• Materials for efficient solar energy conversion
• Plasmonic nanoscale energy converters
• High-Q sensors
• Mesophotonic materials and devices
• Piezoelectric materials and sensors
• Green photonics technologies and devices
• Glassy micro- and nanostructures
• Solar nanotechnology
• Nanoantenna technology
• Photonic crystals for solar cells
• Plasmonic collectors and structures
• Microstructured optical fibers
• Solar-pumped lasers
• Optical sensing for improved energy efficiency
• Slow light for energy applications
• Analytical and numerical modeling approaches

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal’s Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/amse/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/submit/journals/amse/imns/ according to the following timetable: