Future directions in solid state chemistry: report of the NSF-sponsored workshop

Abstract

A long-established area of scientific excellence in Europe, solid state chemistry has emerged in the US in the past two decades as a field experiencing rapid growth and development. At its core, it is an interdisciplinary melding of chemistry, physics, engineering, and materials science, as it focuses on the design, synthesis and structural characterization of new chemical compounds and characterization of their physical properties. As a consequence of this inherently interdisciplinary character, the solid state chemistry community is highly open to the influx of new ideas and directions. The inclusionary character of the field’s culture has been a significant factor in its continuing growth and vitality. This report presents an elaboration of discussions held during an NSF-sponsored workshop on Future Directions in Solid State Chemistry, held on the UC Davis Campus in October 2001. That workshop was the second of a series of workshops planned in this topical area. The first, held at NSF headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, in January of 1998, was designed to address the core of the field, describing how it has developed in the US and worldwide in the past decade, and how the members of the community saw the central thrusts of research and education in solid state chemistry proceeding in the next several years. A report was published on that workshop (J.M. Honig, chair, “Proceedings of the Workshop on the Present Status and Future Developments of Solid State Chemistry and Materials”, Arlington, VA, January 15–16, 1998) describing the state of the field and recommendations for future development of the core discipline. In the spirit of continuing to expand the scope of the solid state chemistry community into new areas of scientific inquiry, the workshop elaborated in this document was designed to address the interfaces between our field and fields where we thought there would be significant opportunity for the development of new scientific advancements through increased interaction. The 7 topic areas, described in detail in this report, ranged from those with established ties to solid state chemistry such as Earth and planetary sciences, and energy storage and conversion, to those such as condensed matter physics, where the connections are in their infancy, to biology, where the opportunities for connections are largely unexplored. Exciting ties to materials chemistry were explored in discussions on molecular materials and nanoscale science, and a session on the importance of improving the ties between solid state chemists and experts in characterization at national experimental facilities was included. The full report elaborates these ideas extensively.