Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

The main thrust of my research is into materials for the thermoelectric power generation, a unique technique to generate electricity from, e.g., waste heat. Thermoelectric power generation is foreseen to play a much larger role in the near future, considering the need for alternative energies due to declining natural resources as well as the increasing efficiency of thermoelectric materials. The latter is a consequence of the discoveries of new materials as well as of improvements of established materials by e.g. nanostructuring or band structure engineering. One focus is on our ongoing efforts to optimize the thermoelectric properties of AyMo3Sb7-xTex and isostructural materials by substitution chemistry as well as nanostructuring, which were discovered and characterized in our group supported by previous NSERC Discovery grants, as well as to explore a new class of thermoelectrics based on transition metal silicide-antimonides. This basically unexplored class exhibits exceptional promise, as evident from the thermoelectric performances of the iron silicide beta-FeSi2 and the iron antimonide FeSb2, and will constitute a new focus of my research. Third, we will investigate thermoelectric oxides as another new direction of my research. Finally, a continuation from previous NSERC grants is the exploration of the nonclassical interactions between the chalcogen atoms of ternary and higher Cu/Ag chalcogenides.