Synergy of physics and chemistry in the discovery of new solid state materials

Abstract

New materials research is the primary route to the discovery of new physical or chemical phenomena and to the understanding of how the atomic, electronic, and bulk structures of materials lead to their observed properties. This research leads not only to fundamental discoveries, but also, not infrequently, to technological applications. Such research is interdisciplinary; many of the successful research programs involve scientists and ideas from the fields of chemistry, physics, materials science, and engineering. Despite extensive efforts by solidstate scientists, we are still largely unable to predict the composition and crystal structure of new extended structure compounds. Yet we find that as materials become more complex in composition and structure, new, interesting, and perhaps useful, phenomena are encountered. Thus, there is a need to further improve our understanding of the chemistry and physics of solids and develop useful experimental and theoretical approaches to rapidly seize the opportunities provided by this complexity. Herein, our exploratory synthesis studies using a chemical bonding approach to new complex solid state materials at the University of Houston will be discussed.