Thermoelectric material is a kind of functional material capable of directly converting thermal into electrical energy and vice versa. The thermoelectric devices produced from materials have the potential to collect and utilize low-grade waste heat that is discretely distributed, offering broad applications.

For many natural networked complex systems, evolution is their most striking feature. Exploring and understanding the underlying mechanism of evolution lies at the heart of many scientific areas, ranging from studying the origin and evolution of life and the ecological system to the emergence of intelligence through the brain neural network’s rewiring and formation of social communities and nation-states. It is the most fundamental aspect of scientific discoveries in evolving complex systems.

As a new class of advanced functional materials, rare earth telluride exhibits abundant properties such as magnetic, electrical, thermoelectric, magnetic semiconductor, and charge density wave. However, the research and application of such materials are subject to two major challenges: one is the lack of convenient and universal preparation methods, and it is difficult to prepare rare earth telluride in high purity and large quantities; the other one is the lack of in-depth understanding of the electronic structure of materials.

Traditional perovskite materials hold promise for applications in solar cells, optoelectronic devices, catalysts, ferroelectrics, and quantum materials.

On March 15, Prof. Martin Oestreich from Technische Universität Berlin was invited to the 142nd Science Lecture in the College of Science. He gave a lecture themed “ The Cation Shuffle”.