The challenges in thermoelectric materials concern mainly the replacement of expensive and toxic bismuth telluride-based thermoelectric devices with cheaper, environmentally benign and more efficient materials. Applications at ambient temperature, such as building-integrated renewable energy systems, have not yet reached commercialisation, mainly due to their high cost/power ratio. The goal of the ORACLE project is to discover novel inorganic and organic-inorganic clathrate compounds with high efficiency as thermoelectric materials. The exploratory synthesis of these compounds will be followed by crystallographic and spectroscopic characterisation. First-principles calculations, combined with machine-learning techniques and Hirshfeld surface analysis on the structural models will study the host-guest interactions and predict the physical properties of the materials. The impact of the ORACLE project is to offer a new, broad class of semiconducting clathrates that can be used in thermoelectric devices with high potential for industrial exploitation.
02.10.2023 to 01.10.2025
The research project is implemented in the framework of H.F.R.I call “Basic research Financing (Horizontal support of all Sciences)” under the National Recovery and Resilience Plan “Greece 2.0” funded by the European Union – NextGenerationEU (H.F.R.I. Project Number: 14730).
