Emerging materials under high pressures: electronic structure and phonon scattering

Abstract

Emerging functional materials attract growing research interest for their potential new technological applications. Thermal and electrical transports are fundamental properties of solids and are closely related to the vibration of lattice and the electronic structure. A thorough understanding of materials in the atomistic and electronic scales is thus critical for the engineering of the transport properties. In this presentation, I will discuss about our recent study of the pressure effects on the lattice dynamics of superionic compounds and the organic-inorganic hybrid perovskites. The large tunability of intrinsic phonon scattering in these materials demonstrates new engineering strategies for lattice thermal transport properties. In a different topic, I will focus on the electronic band structures of IV-VI compounds, which have potential photovoltaic and thermoelectric applications. The effects of pressure and dopants will be discussed.