The method of Materials Genome Initiative greatly speeds up the optimization of thermoelectric materials. Based on theoretical calculations and materials' database, this approach rapidly finds out the important factors that affect materials' properties, which can be used in the study of current materials by providing helpful directions and guidance. In this work, filled skutterudites and diamond-like compounds were selected as two examples to demonstrate how Materials Genome Initiative speeds up the optimization of thermoelectric properties. Starting from perspectivesof electron and phonon transport, this method can easily find out a few best chemical compositions from hundreds (or thousands) of possibilities to realize high thermoelectric performance. This work demonstrates that thermoelectric material is a typical example that can use the materials genome approachto speed up experimental study.

materials genome initiative  /  thermoelectric material  /  filled skutterudite  /  diamond-like compounds