Professor Stephen Elliott

Faculty

Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge

Host: Professor Jeffrey Neaton, Departmen tof Physics and Professor Xiang Zhang, Department of Mechanical Engineering  UC Berkeley

Stephen is Professor of Chemical Physics, a position he has held since 1999 and Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.  His research involves computational modeling of functional materials to gain a basic atomistic understanding of their physical properties. His research has included studying materials for non-volatile ‘phase-change’ random-access memory for flash-replacement applications.  More recently he has demonstrated, via finite-element computer modeling, ‘thermal metamaterials’ that can be used to construct thermal waveguides that confine propagating heat and can, therefore, be used to steer heat along complex geometric paths.

The aim of the exchange is to extend Stephen’s research interests in thermal functionality of materials to thermoelectric generation (TEG) for energy-harvesting applications. He plans to use a DFT-based computational approach to design and discover new (families of) TEG materials with ‘engineered’ optimized thermo-electric and cognate properties in the first instance. To establish this new research the exchange will enable learning at first-hand about various relevant techniques employed by researchers at Kavli ENSI, and to forge collaborations with colleagues there which will further strengthen links between the Winton Programme for the Physics of Sustainability and Kavli ENSI.