Concluding remarks: Emerging materials for optoelectronics applications

This paper offers a personal perspective on the 2026 Faraday Discussions meeting on emerging materials for optoelectronics applications. Common themes of the meeting included hybrid perovskites, BaZrS₃ and related chalcogenide materials, low-dimensional materials, and data-driven science including self-driving laboratories and accelerated calculations. Discussion highlights included debate on which properties should be measured or calculated for emerging materials, the role of impurities and approximations, and the balanced interface point between theory and experiment for the case of emerging materials for optoelectronics applications. The paper also considers a possible definition of an emerging material for optoelectronics applications. It reflects on lessons learned from working in emerging materials, including the importance of pursuing open problems, articulating the result significance clearly, and sharing both positive and negative results. In addition, it provides a perspective on the role of AI in emerging materials research. It offers a personal view on how Faraday Discussions can both benefit from and contribute to AI-enabled science, while preserving the central role of human discussion and reasoning. This paper is adapted from a transcript of the concluding remarks made at the meeting.