New open-access materials database could save research time, spur material science advances | The American Ceramic Society

"Scientists and researchers spend a lot of time conducting experiments, many of which are trial and error. Usually it takes multiple experiments involving several processes and methods using multiple sample sizes and variables to solve a problem. And depending on the scope of the research, it can take days, weeks, months, or even years to reach a breakthrough.   New research is usually built upon the successes of previous research. Some research requires the use of expensive equipment, which some researchers—by virtue of their employer’s budget, or lack thereof—may not have access to.   Access to technical data on research that has already been tested and proven can enable more collaboration, save time, and speed up the progress of scientific research overall.   Fortunately, several forward-thinking scientists at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have also thought about this. In a collaboration led by scientist Andriy Zakutayev at NREL’s Materials Science Center and data scientist Caleb Phillips at NREL’s Computational Science Center, an NREL team created a database accessible to researchers studying inorganic materials for advanced energy applications.  

The High Throughput Experimental Materials (HTEM) database is a collection of more than 140,000 sample entries of data on inorganic thin-film materials for advanced energy research. The entries offer “details about the structural, chemical, and optoelectronic properties of the materials, and their synthesis conditions,” according to an NREL news release...."