2019 MRS Fall Meeting: Symposium EN14 - Thermoelectric Energy Conversion (TEC) - Complex Materials and Novel Theoretical Methods

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Non-technical summary:The study of thermoelectric materials - which enable the solid-state conversion of thermal energy into electrical energy - has grown immensely in the past decade. What was once a niche research area has transformed into diverse field spanning condensed matter physics, materials science and engineering and solid-state chemistry. The complexity of the topic (fundamentally, the study of electronic and thermal transport in a broadly defined group of materials) means that it is difficult to be fluent in all aspects of the field. For this reason, researchers benefit from the annual Fall Materials Research Society (MRS) Meeting, which brings together a large number of participants with diverse expertise. The symposium "Thermoelectric Energy Conversion: Complex Materials and Novel Theoretical Methods" at the 2019 MRS Meeting in Boston, MA attracts experts in design, synthesis, characterization and modeling of complex thermoelectric materials. The three-day session includes 48 oral presentations, 18 of which are invited, and 54 poster presentations from a diverse group of presenters. This symposium provides an ideal platform for investigators from varied backgrounds to exchange recently-gained knowledge and engage in new collaborations related to thermoelectric materials, enabling progress towards the ultimate goal of efficient waste-energy recovery. Partial support by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research facilitates participation of students, postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty in this symposium.Technical summary:This 2019 Fall MRS symposium highlights fundamental research in the field of thermoelectric materials by focusing on two complementary approaches for the development of new thermoelectric materials: (a) experimental studies focused on the discovery, synthesis and understanding of materials with complexity on the atomic and microstructural levels, and (b) development of novel theoretical methods to predict such materials and structures and their implementation. Part (a) emphasizes recent progress in experimental studies of materials including but not limited to: (i) novel ternary and quaternary materials from inorganic material classes such as chalcogenides, pnictides, oxides, (ii) alloys including high entropy alloys, and (iii) multiphase and multinary composites with hierarchical microstructures. As realizing high performance thermoelectric materials requires a careful balance between various transport quantities, complexity in compositions could offer a pathway to solving this problem. Part (b) highlights new approaches to material discovery and modeling, for example, by using new high-throughput strategies and a-priori predictions of electronic and thermal transport properties. Partial support by the Solid State and Materials Chemistry program in the Division of Materials Research facilitates participation of students, postdoctoral researchers and junior faculty in this symposium.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.