Gerbrand Ceder

Union Minihre Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
Department of Materials Science and Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Advances in solid state physics and the availability of powerful computing technology have brought computational modeling to the point where some properties of materials can be predicted before they are ever synthesized. This opens up the possibility of performing materials research by simulation. Impact on materials design is more difficult as it involves distilling the requirements of designers, producers and customers into "computable" quantities. The author will present some case studies of computer-designed materials. In particular the use of first principles computations to gain understanding about materials and rapidly focus in on interesting new possibilities will be illustrated with some examples from research on intercalation oxides for high-energy density rechargeable Li batteries.