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

非技术摘要：热电材料的研究在过去十年中有了巨大的发展。热电材料能够将热能固态转换为电能。曾经的利基研究领域已经转变为涵盖凝聚态物理、材料科学与工程和固态化学的多样化领域。这个主题的复杂性(从根本上说，是研究一组广泛定义的材料中的电子和热输运)意味着很难通晓该领域的所有方面。出于这个原因，研究人员受益于秋季材料研究会(MRS)的年度会议，该会议汇集了大量具有不同专业知识的参与者。在马萨诸塞州波士顿举行的2019年MRS会议上举行的研讨会《热电能量转换：复杂材料和新颖的理论方法》吸引了复杂热电材料的设计、合成、表征和建模方面的专家。为期三天的会议包括48个口头报告，其中18个被邀请，以及来自不同演讲者群体的54个海报报告。这次研讨会为来自不同背景的研究人员提供了一个理想的平台，交流最近获得的知识，并参与与热电材料有关的新合作，使之能够在实现高效废能回收的最终目标方面取得进展。材料研究部固态和材料化学项目的部分支持促进了学生、博士后研究人员和初级教师参与本次研讨会。技术总结：2019年秋季MRS研讨会通过关注开发新的热电材料的两种互补方法，重点介绍了热电材料领域的基础研究：(A)实验研究侧重于在原子和微结构水平上发现、合成和理解具有复杂性的材料，以及(B)发展预测此类材料和结构的新的理论方法及其实施。(A)部分重点介绍了材料实验研究的最新进展，包括但不限于：(I)新型三元和四元材料，如硫系化合物、多金属化合物、氧化物等无机材料；(Ii)包括高熵合金在内的合金；(Iii)具有层次化微结构的多相和多元复合材料。由于实现高性能热电材料需要在各种传输量之间仔细平衡，复杂的组成可能为解决这一问题提供了一条途径。(B)部分着重介绍了材料发现和建模的新方法，例如，通过使用新的高通量战略以及对电子和热传输性质的先验预测。材料研究部固态和材料化学项目的部分支持促进了学生、博士后研究人员和初级教师参与本次研讨会。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

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.