Abstract
Thermoelectric (TE) energy harvesting is a promising green technology for converting any heat sources into useful electrical energy. The main challenge is to develop TE materials with high dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT, which directly governs the conversion efficiency of TE devices. The central goal of the present project is related to the identification, synthesis, structural and chemical characterisations and optimization of the TE properties of novel chalcogenide semiconductors with complex crystal structure. Their identification is currently guided by high-throughput screening that relies on electronic and phonon band structure calculations. Synthesis and detailed characterisations will be performed using state-of-the-art techniques available in the French (IJL, Nancy) and Czech (FZU, Prague) partners. We will experimentally assess their TE performance over a broad range of temperatures (2 – 1000 K) and, for the most promising compositions, employ band structure engineering through doping to further optimize their performance.