2025 MRS Fall Meeting & Exhibit

Symposium EN07-Clathrates and Clathrate-Like Materials

“Guest-host” materials broadly known as clathrates have been the object of increasing experimental and theoretical interest from the materials research community over the past several years. This interest continues to grow today due to (i) the unique and often unusual structure-property relationships clathrate materials display, which in many cases are still not completely understood, (ii) the potential these materials hold for use in technological applications, especially in the fuels and energy conversion/storage sectors, as well as electronics, and (iii) their potential environmental and industrial impacts.

This symposium, focuses on both inorganic/intermetallic clathrates as well as clathrate hydrates, including advanced structural characterization, thermal properties and lattice dynamics, stability and phase equilibria, advanced synthetic approaches, and progress in/impact on technologies related to fuels and flow assurance, thermoelectric energy conversion, energy harvesting, electrochemical energy storage, gas storage, environmental considerations, carbon capture, utilization, and storage (CCUS) and the associated open questions and challenges in all of these areas. This symposium will be of multidisciplinary interest to researchers in condensed matter physics, solid state chemistry, materials science, and chemical engineering.

Topics will include:

  • Novel routes for synthesis and crystal growth of intermetallic as well as hydrate clathrate compounds
  • High-pressure synthesis and characterization
  • Phase equilibria in clathrate systems
  • New clathrate-like crystal structures and new clathrate compositions
  • Novel low-density crystalline modifications of carbon, silicon, germanium, and tin
  • Progress in carbon-based clathrate materials: theory and experiment
  • Energy-related applications and topics, including thermoelectrics, lithiation, photovoltaics, gas storage, fuels and flow assurance
  • Lattice dynamics and thermal properties
  • Experimental and theoretical studies of intra-cage and inter-cage mobility and dynamics of guest atoms in clathrates, including guest species diffusion
  • Self-assembly of colloidal nanoparticles into clathrate-like superstructures
  • Clathrate hydrates in natural environments
  • Clathrate hydrates for engineering applications, including carbon capture and separation
  • Progress in advanced technology for fuels and flow assurance
  • Environmental impact of clathrate hydrates
  • Novel physical phenomena in clathrates

Invited Speakers:

  • Svilen Bobev (University of Delaware, USA)
  • Candace Chan (Arizona State University, USA)
  • Ann Cook (The Ohio State University, USA)
  • Claudia Draxl (Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany)
  • Sharon Glotzer (University of Michigan, USA)
  • Juri Grin (Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids, Germany)
  • Ryan Hartman (New York University, USA)
  • Stefan Kirchner (NYCU Electrophysics, Taiwan)
  • Haruhiko Morito (Tohoku University, Japan)
  • Rita Prosmiti (Institute of Fundamental Physics (IFF-CSIC), Spain)
  • Alberto Striolo (University of Oklahoma, USA)
  • Timothy Strobel (Carnegie Institution for Science, USA)
  • Terumasa Tadano (National Institute for Materials Science, USA)
  • Kaya Wei (National High Magnetic Field Laboratory, USA)
  • Julia Zaikina (Iowa State University of Science and Technology, USA)

Symposium Organizers

George S. Nolas
University of South Florida
Department of Physics
USA

Matt Beekman
California Polytechnic State University
Department of Physics
USA

Silke Bühler-Paschen
Technische Universität Wien
Institute of Solid State Physics
Austria

Carolyn Koh
Colorado School of Mines
Chemical and Biological Engineering
USA

Topics

chemical composition clathrates crystal growth crystallographic structure energy storage in situ neutron scattering thermal conductivity thermoelectric x-ray diffraction (XRD)