MS-057:Compositionally complex materials: challenges and opportunities for X-ray absorption, pair distribution function, and related probes.

Co-Chairs: Dibyendu Bhattacharyya & Ben Frandsen

Sponsoring Commission: XAFS

Co-Sponsoring Commission: Powder Diffraction

Compositionally complex materials exhibit tremendous promise for the development of new materials with superior properties compared to conventional materials. Perhaps the most well-known are high-entropy materials (HEMs), which are composed of multiple principal elements (five or more), leading to high configurational entropies that can stabilize single-phase structures, even at high temperatures. Medium-entropy materials have also recently emerged as promising systems for materials development. The so-called “cocktail effect” of the multiple component elements often produces exceptional mechanical, thermal, optical, magnetic, and chemical properties, leading to various important functionalities, including enhanced catalytic and energy storage properties. Characterization of these materials in an element-specific manner with sensitivity to local structure provides valuable insights into the dependence of their properties on each chemical component. This is a challenging task that requires advanced techniques such as X-ray near-edge spectroscopy (XANES), extended X-ray absorption spectroscopy (EXAFS), pair distribution function analysis, and more. This microsymposium will highlight recent advances in the structural study of compositionally complex materials, establish future research directions, and discuss technical developments that enable deeper understanding of these important materials.