Thermoelectric materials — heat into electricity.
A large fraction of primary energy is wasted as heat. Designing materials that recover even a small fraction of that — quietly, with no moving parts — is a high-leverage decarbonisation lever. Our work focuses on band-structure engineering and phonon management.
Maximising the figure of merit (zT)
The thermoelectric figure of merit balances electrical conductivity, thermopower, and thermal conductivity. We design materials that decouple these quantities to push zT past practical thresholds.
Phonon engineering
Reducing lattice thermal conductivity through nanostructuring, alloy scattering, and rattling modes — without sacrificing charge transport.
Band-structure engineering
Tuning band convergence, resonant levels, and effective masses via doping and alloying to enhance the power factor.
Earth-abundant compositions
Targeting non-toxic, abundant element compositions so any technology that emerges has a path to scale without rare- earth bottlenecks.