Best Poster Award for Florian Busch
Unravelling how microstructure shapes the efficiency of thermoelectrics
How can industrial waste heat be harvested and converted into sustainable electricity? Thermoelectric materials hold great promise for this, yet their efficiency still needs improvement before they can be applied on a large scale. Florian Busch, master student at the Max Planck Institute for Sustainable Materials (MPI-SusMat), is investigating how to make these materials more effective and has now been awarded the Best Poster Award at the 21st European Conference on Thermoelectrics in Nancy, France.
“I already considered it a privilege to attend the conference as a master’s student – not many institutions would place so much trust in someone at my stage. That’s why I’m even happier about this award. I owe special thanks to my supervisors Prof. Christina Scheu and Dr. Eleonora Isotta, who have been incredibly supportive since I joined the institute in January”, says Busch. Efficient thermoelectrics have a low thermal conductivity and a high electrical conductivity. Until now, it was widely assumed that all grain boundaries in thermoelectrics scatter phonons, thereby lowering thermal conductivity. In his award-winning poster, Busch presented results showing that different types of grain boundaries behave in very different ways, depending on their structural and chemical characteristics. His ongoing studies also examine what governs thermal boundary resistance, whether phonons or electrons play the dominant role.
Busch is doing his master studies at the RWTH Aachen University, while doing his thesis at MPI-SusMat. He aims to continue working on thermoelectric materials during his PhD, that he will start next spring at MPI-SusMat.
The European Conference on Thermoelectrics is one of the leading international meetings in this field, covering everything from fundamental physics and chemistry to new materials, devices, and applications. Among ca. 70 posters presented, only six received a Poster Award, making this recognition a remarkable achievement for a young researcher at the start of his career.
