THERMAL

The aim of this project is to show the potential of high-entropy materials (oxides and chalcogenides) for thermoelectric applications. In the current environmental and economic context, the demand for clean and renewable alternative energies is important. Thermoelectric modules, which convert heat into electricity (or vice-versa), offer a promising solution. However, the development of efficient, non-toxic, and abundant thermoelectric materials remains a key challenge. This project aims to explore high-entropy materials as a novel strategy for designing innovative thermoelectric materials. High entropy oxides were first proposed in 2015 and are made of at least 5 cations randomly distributed on the cationic sublattice of their structure. Since then, the concept has been extended to other of material families, including chalcogenides, but the thermoelectric properties of high-entropy materials remain largely unexplored. The local distortions and mass fluctuations induced by the disorder enables to significantly reduce the thermal conductivity while having a minimal impact on charge carriers transport. Additionally, their high chemical versatility enables precise tuning of doping by substitution with aliovalent cations. This project focuses on developing new high-entropy oxides and chalcogenides (sulfides and selenides) to optimize the thermal and electronic transport properties. An innovative material selection and optimization approach, based on Active Learning and Bayesian optimization, will be used to maximize thermoelectric performances while minimizing experimental work.