Chris Wolverton

Member of Solid State Theory Group:  1993-1999

Current position:  Senior Technical Specialist, Ford Research Laboratory

Address: Ford Motor Company, MD 3028/SRL, P.O. Box 2053, Dearborn, MI 48121-2053

Phone: (313) 390-9552

FAX: (313) 322-7044

E-mail: cwolvert@ford.com

Education: B.S. The University of Texas at Austin, Ph.D. University of California at Berkeley

Research Interests (1993-1998)

The main focus of my research is the application of highly-accurate, first-principles electronic structure calculations to predict physical properties of complex materials at zero and finite temperatures. Specifically, I am interested in studying the atomic scale structure, short- and long-range order, order/disorder phenomena, and thermodynamic phase stability of intermetallic, semiconductor, and ceramic alloys. My research at NREL has involved the combination of first-principles linearized augmented-plane-wave (LAPW) electronic structure calculations with statistical techniques such as Monte Carlo simulations to study ordering phenomena in alloys, and is currently focused on two main groups of materials: (1) Lithium transition metal (di)oxides and their potential use in battery applications, and (2) Light-weight metal alloys, such as Al-Mg, for automotive applications.

Selected Publications (1995-1998) and E-prints

· C. Wolverton and Alex Zunger ``Cation- and vacancy-ordering in Li_xCoO₂'', Phys. Rev. B 57, 2242 (1998).

· C. Wolverton, V. Ozolins, and Alex Zunger ``First-principles theory of short-range order in size-mismatched metal alloys: Cu-Au, Cu-Ag, and Ni-Au'' Phys. Rev. B (in press, 1998).

· Luiz G. Ferreira, C. Wolverton, and Alex Zunger ``Evaluating and improving the cluster variation method entropy functional for Ising alloys'' J. Chem. Phys. (in press, 1998).

· V. Ozolins, C. Wolverton, and A. Zunger ``Cu-Au, Ag-Au, Cu-Ag and Ni-Au intermetallics: First-principles study of phase diagrams and structures'', Phys. Rev. B (in press, 1998).

· V. Ozolins, C. Wolverton, and A. Zunger ``Strain-induced shift in the elastically soft direction of epitaxially grown fcc metals'', Appl. Phys. Lett. (in press, 1998).

· V. Ozolins, C. Wolverton, and A. Zunger ``Effects of anharmonic strain on phase stability of epitaxial films and superlattices: applications to noble metals'', Phys. Rev. B (in press, 1998).

· C. Wolverton and A. Zunger ``Ni-Au: A Testing Ground for Theories of Phase Stability'' Comp. Mat. Sci. 8, 107 (1997).

· C. Wolverton, A. Zunger, and B. Schonfeld, ``Invertible and Non-Invertible Ising Alloy Problems'' Solid State Commun. 101, 519 (1997).

· C. Wolverton, A. Zunger, S. Froyen, and S.-H. Wei, ``Point-Charge Electrostatics in Disordered Alloys'' Phys. Rev. B, 54, 7843 (1996).

· C. Wolverton and A. Zunger, ``Ising-like Description of Structurally Relaxed Ordered and Disordered Alloys'', Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 3162 (1995).

· C. Wolverton and A. Zunger, ``First-Principles Theory of Short-Range Order, Electronic Excitations, and Spin Polarization in Ni-V and Pd-V Alloys'', Phys. Rev. B 52, 8813 (1995).

· R. McCormack, D. de Fontaine, C. Wolverton, and G. Ceder, ``Non-Empirical Phase Equilibria in the W-Mo-Cr System,'' Phys. Rev. B 51, 15808 (1995).

· C. Wolverton and A. Zunger, ``Short- and Long-Range Order of the Binary Madelung Lattice'', Phys. Rev. B 51, 6876 (1995).

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