Dr. Giovanna Latronico has received FY2022 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan
2022/10/18
【Name】
Dr. Giovanna Latronico (SIT Research Laboratories）
【Faculty supervisor】
Professor Paolo Mele
【Awarded fellowship】
FY2022 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan
【Research project】
Thermoelectric conversion improvement of Co-free skutterudites through a multiscale approach
Dr. Giovanna Latronico (SIT Research Laboratories）
【Faculty supervisor】
Professor Paolo Mele
【Awarded fellowship】
FY2022 JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship for Research in Japan
【Research project】
Thermoelectric conversion improvement of Co-free skutterudites through a multiscale approach
The current energy demand, together with all the well-known issues linked to it, requires to find new routes to produce and to save it. Thermoelectricity (TE) is a promising method for energy recovery from wasted heat. The efficiency of a TE material is evaluated by a dimensionless figure of merit ZT, which is defined as ZT=(S2σ/κ)T ,where S is the Seebeck coefficient, σ is the electrical conductivity, κ is the thermal conductivity and Tthe absolute temperature.
The purpose of the proposed research is to apply a panoscopic approach in order to improve TE properties of the system Smy(FexNi1-x)4Sb12 for both bulks and thin films. Main efforts will be focused on the reduction of the thermal conductivity κ through all length-scale phonon scattering via hierarchical engineering from atomic-scale lattice disorder and nanoscale endotaxial precipitates to mesoscale grain boundaries and interfaces.
Research Summary
Numerous Co-free skutterudites bulk samples will be prepared to try different approaches, such as multifilling, doping of the Sb site, the addition of carbon and nano-powders and a combination of all of the above. Synthesis, densification, and structural characterizations will be performed in our laboratory at Shibaura IT, while TE properties and measurements of κ will be carried out in collaborations with NIMS (Tsukuba, Japan, Prof. Takao Mori’s laboratory), Muroran IT (Muroran, Japan, Prof. Chihiro Sekine’s laboratory) and Dillard University (New Orleans, USA, Prof. Abdalla Darwish’s laboratory). Genova University (Genova, Italy, Prof. Cristina Artini’s laboratory) and UCLM (Toledo, Spain, Prof. Marco Antonio de la Torre’s laboratory) will be involved in the analysis of data as well.
In addition, parallel research on thin films will be part of this project. The aforementioned bulk samples will be used as targets to prepare thin film via Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) at Shibaura IT and then characterized same as stated before.
Future Prospects
The expected outcome is an enhancement of the ZT for both bulks and films of Smy(FexNi1-x)4Sb12 mainly thanks to the panoscopic approach on the hierarchical architecture of the material.
Thanks to the substitution of Co with Fe and Ni, the filling performed with cheaper mixes of rare earths and the doping through the more available Sn instead of Te, we expect to increase the possibility of a more sustainable and cost-effective future commercial application of these skutterudites in a large-scale production of TE materials.
Contact
Planning and Public Relations Section
3-7-5 Toyosu, Koto-ku, Tokyo 135-8548, Japan (2F the Centennial Main Building, Toyosu Campus)
TEL:+81-(0)3-5859-7070 / FAX:+81-(0)35859-7071
E-mail:koho@ow.shibaura-it.ac.jp