Multiple PhD openings are available at the group of Prof. N. Neophytou at the University of Warwick, UK, on an ERC Consolidator Grant (UKRI undertaken). The project explores ab initio electronic transport calculations for complex electronic structure and/or nanostructured thermoelectric materials.

The links for the individual separate posts are provided below:

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/postgraduate/phdm/project/nn

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/postgraduate/phdm/project/nnt

https://warwick.ac.uk/fac/sci/eng/postgraduate/phdm/project/nnh

Project description:

The need for energy sustainability and the environmental consequences of fossil fuels make technologies for clean energy imperative. Thermoelectric (TE) materials can harvest enormous amounts of waste heat and convert it into useful electrical power. As 60% of all energy we use is lost into heat during conversion processes, the realization of efficient and scalable TEs can transform the energy-use/savings landscape and play a major role in net-zero sustainability. However, TEs suffer from low conversion efficiencies.

Over the last years, however, advancements in synthesis and growth have realized many materials with complex electronic structures. Their myriad alloys and compounds offer possibilities for exceptional performance improvements, with the potential of an advanced, efficient energy harvesting technology. Two main directions contribute towards this: i) the electronic structures of these materials consist of rich features such as many bands and valleys, elongated shapes and different effective masses, topological features which offer ballistic transport, to name a few; and ii) nanostructuring, with disorder introduced hierarchically at the atomic scale, the nanoscale (<10nm) and the macroscale.        

The individual projects are a part of a larger ERC grant (Undertaken by UKRI) and uses Density Functional Theory coupled to advanced electronic transport methods, to investigate the electronic and thermoelectric performance of complex electronic structure materials. Through alloying, doping, and nanostructuring, prominent materials will be optimized. The richness of the experimental data in the literature and from project partners will provide opportunities for theory validation. The expected candidate must be interested in theoretical methods and code development and have an undergraduate degree in physics or materials science/engineering. An MSc in these fields will be a plus. The post is open for UK applicants. For more information, contact [email protected].