Institut Charles Sadron News

Waste heat from technical devices and even heat given off by living beings is a ubiquitous source of energy and can be harnessed to produce electricity. One possible application is powering small sensors. “We intend to use a mechanism known as the thermoelectric effect to convert the energy, whereby a difference in temperature can be transformed into electrical energy”. Until now, inorganic materials have been used for converting and storing energy. The international PhD program will concentrate on developing organic materials, whose greater mechanical flexibility and low thermal conductivity make them potentially more efficient performers than conventional inorganic materials. The SYCOMMOR group at ICS will play a key role in the consortium coordinated by Martijn Memerink of Heidelberg University, thanks to its expertise in polymer crystallization and structural investigations using Transmission Electron Microscopy.