2025 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium EN05-Advancements in Thermoelectric Materials—From Conventional to Cutting Edge

This symposium highlights the recent advancements in thermoelectric materials, spanning from traditional to emerging domains. It will delve into recent progress in thermoelectric materials, with a focus on enhancing the figure of merit (zT) through advanced synthesis, characterization techniques, and theoretical modeling. The symposium will explore advancements in conventional thermoelectric materials, focusing on high-zT through novel approaches and manufacturing techniques. Topics include charge, thermal, and energy transport in bulk, nanostructured, and nanoscale materials, as well as devices and interfaces. Additionally, this symposium will highlight the integration of magnetism with thermoelectric transport, focusing on interfacial effects, magnon-drag phenomena, and magnetic field-induced thermoelectric effects in metallic and semi-metallic topological materials. Furthermore, it will introduce new scattering tuning methods aimed at achieving ultrahigh thermoelectric performance in metals, bridging the gap to fundamental correlated electron research. This symposium aims to bridge thermoelectrics with spintronics and quantum materials, fostering interdisciplinary topics and enabling novel applications in energy conversion and related fields.

Topics will include:

  • Advances in Thermoelectric Material Design and Synthesis
  • Theory and Computational Modeling of Thermoelectrics
  • Metallic, Semi-Metallic, and Topological Thermoelectrics
  • Magnetic Effects and Magnon-Drag Phenomena in Thermoelectrics
  • Interface, Microstructure, and Composition in Thermoelectrics
  • Thermoelectric Modules for Waste Heat Recovery and Cooling
  • Charge/heat transport and scattering, limitations of the Wiedemann-Franz law
  • Phase Change Materials for Thermoelectrics and Thermal Management

Invited Speakers:

  • Je-Hyeong Bahk (University of Cincinnati, USA)
  • Svetlana Boriskina (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
  • David Broido (Boston College, USA)
  • Jennifer Coulter (Flatiron Institute/Harvard University, USA)
  • Doug Crane (DTP Thermoelectrics Company, USA)
  • Simone Di Cataldo (Sapienza Università di Roma, Italy)
  • Alex Ganose (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
  • Fabian Garmroudi (Los Alamos National Laboratory, USA)
  • Prashun Gorai (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, USA)
  • Patrick Hopkins (University of Virginia, USA)
  • Susan Kauzlarich (University of California, Davis, USA)
  • Atsuko Kosuga (Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan)
  • Saniya LeBlanc (The George Washington University, USA)
  • Takao Mori (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan)
  • Jernej Mravlje (Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia)
  • Neophytos Neophytou (University of Warwick, United Kingdom)
  • Ivana Savic (King's College London, United Kingdom)
  • Junichiro Shiomi (The University of Tokyo, Japan)
  • Jeff Snyder (Northwestern University, USA)
  • Zhiting Tian (Cornell University, USA)
  • Eric Toberer (Colorado School of Mines, USA)
  • Yu-Chih Tseng (Natural Resources Canada, Canada)
  • Ken-ichi Uchida (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan)
  • Heng Wang (Illinois Institute of Technology, USA)
  • Matthias Wuttig (RWTH Aachen University, Germany)
  • Mona Zebarjadi (University of Virginia, USA)
  • Alexandra Zevalkink (Michigan State University, USA)

Symposium Organizers

Sepideh Akhbarifar
The Catholic University of America
Department of Physics – Vitreous State Lab.
USA

Jesse Maassen
Dalhousie University
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science
Canada

Andrej Pustogow
Technische Universität
Institute of Solid State Physics
Austria

Takuma Shiga
National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology
Japan

Topics

Computing efficiency electronic material energy generation Sustainability thermal conductivity thermoelectric thermoelectricity