At the time I was studying nanotechnology was the projected next big thing in materials science but that industry never really took off like people were expecting it to (there was certainly no nanotech jobs boom like people were projecting). I was personally interested in electrochemistry, battery technology etc but I was about 10 years too early for the Renewables/EV boom, so timing wasn't really right.
I think nowadays Hydrogen energy sector and Renewables more broadly are the big growth areas.
