Diverse Approaches to Functional Materials Including Synthesis, Characterization and Data-Driven Discoveries

Solid state chemistry has enabled the development of functional materials throughout the history of humanity, tracing back to the earliest efforts to fabricate pots from clay and to smelt iron from rocks. Its advanced applications are ubiquitous in modern technology such as batteries, solar cells, lasers, magnets, light emitting diodes, hard materials, superconductors, catalysts, and many others. With its focus on extended structures, solid state chemistry is inherently interdisciplinary, finding kinship with metallurgy, condensed matter physics, mineralogy, and materials engineering. The underlying goal is to seek relationships connecting composition and structure to the resulting properties and function of solid state materials.

Until recently, the seeming unpredictability of solid state chemistry served both as its most charming aspect and its call for action. More sophisticated tools and innovative approaches now at our disposal herald exciting times for this transformative discipline. New classes of materials, such as hybrid perovskites, high-entropy alloys, mixed-anion compounds, and topological solids, offer improved properties and reveal unusual physical phenomena. Creative synthetic routes enable materials to be made faster and with better control. With the development of more powerful instrumentation, materials can be characterized in exquisite detail at various length scales and the mechanisms of solid state reactions probed more closely. Given advances in computational power and the large body of scientific data available, it has become feasible to apply theoretical methods and high-throughput approaches to accelerate discovery of new materials, including candidates that are “outside the box.” Now, more than ever, solid state chemistry has a vital role in confronting the world’s critical problems in energy, sustainability, and societal needs.

This conference invites researchers from academia, national laboratories, and industry to share their perspectives and to strengthen links between fundamental ideas and technological applications. Because fresh perspectives are especially important to spark innovation, participants from diverse groups, including those that are traditionally underrepresented, are welcome and valued. Speakers and poster presenters are encouraged to share their latest unpublished results that will promote the exchange of ideas. All participants are invited to engage actively in stimulating discussion and to interact with the diverse, inclusive, and supportive researchers within the solid state chemistry community.