Inspired by nature: sulfide minerals as sustainable and efficient thermoelectric materials

About the Project

We have a vacancy for a PhD student to join a project at the forefront of research in thermoelectric materials, which can be used in devices for the direct conversion of waste heat into electrical power. The work, which follows from successfully completed Leverhulme and EPSRC projects, concerns the discovery of new thermoelectric materials based on copper-containing sulfide minerals, as earth-abundant and sustainable materials for large scale energy recovery.

The project involves synthesis of new mineral-based chalcogenides, characterisation using X-ray and neutron diffraction and measurements of physical properties (electronic and thermal). The Solid-State Chemistry group at the University of Reading is a major user of central facilities (ISIS, Diamond) at the nearby Harwell campus, and there will be opportunities to characterise these materials by neutron diffraction or inelastic neutron scattering.

Informal enquiries can be made to Dr Paz Vaqueiro (p.vaqueiro@reading.ac.uk).

References

1. S. Mukherjee, D. J. Voneshen, A. Duff, P. Goddard, A. V. Powell and P. Vaqueiro, “Beyond rattling: tetrahedrites as incipient ionic conductors”, Adv. Mater., 35, 2306088 (2023).
2. V. Carnevali, S. Mukherjee, D. J. Voneshen, K. Maji, E. Guilmeau, A. V. Powell, P. Vaqueiro, and M. Fornari, “Lone pair rotation and bond heterogeneity leading to ultralow thermal conductivity in aikinite”, J. Am. Chem. Soc., 145, 9313–9325 (2023).
3. P. Vaqueiro, “Synthesis and property measurements of thermoelectric materials”, Chapter 1 in Inorganic Thermoelectric Materials: From Fundamental Concepts to Materials Design, RSC Inorganic Materials Series, pages 1-52 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1039/9781788019590-00001