The world's energy consumption is reaching 16 terawatts and is predicted to triple by 2050.
Meeting this huge demand along with great concerns over climate change has now led to an urgency for the development of cleaner and renewable energy sources. Thermoelectric (TE) materials are systems that can directly convert thermal waste heat into electrical energy. It has potential to make significant contribution to the development of low carbon power generation highlighted in the Clean Growth Strategy of the UK Government. In order to achieve this goal, a key challenge is to improve the efficiency of TE materials and reduce manufacture cost. The success in this endeavour will lead to wide scale applications in power generation and efficient cooling of thermoelectric technology beyond the current niche markets (example: spacepower generation and cooling laser diodes or infrared detectors). This project seeks to develop a new breed of 3D thermoelectric metamaterials that have controlled nanostructured features upon the 100 nm scale, allowing unprecedented control over electronic and phononic properties and offering a highly controlled pathway for understanding the effect of nanoscale topology.

The project involves the manufacture of novel 3D nanostructured thermoelectric materials using two-photon lithography. The fabricated samples will be subject to standard physical characterisation such as scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. Furthermore, the electronic and thermal properties of 3D TE samples will be measured using both nanoscale scanning probe measurements and bulk transport measurements. The student will also benefit from interactions with theorists at Exeter University. Ultimately, the project will develop a new breed of TE devices with a step change in performance.