News Archive

• September 2020 - Work done as part of our industry-led project with European Thermodynamics, Johnson Matthey and Queen Mary University on upscaling of Heuslers is accepted in the leading materials journal Scripta Materialia.

• September 2020 - Stephen Wark joins the group to do a PhD on metastable chalcogenide thermoelectrics. Wellcome aboard!

• July 2020 - Funding success! Jan-Willem is awarded a major Leverhulme Trust grant to investigate phosphide thermoelectrics.

• April 2020 - Collaborative research with Mike Reece at Queen Mary University, exploiting ultrafast flash-SPS consolidation of half-Heusler thermoelecrics is accepted in Journal of Alloys and Compounds.

• March 2020 - Jan-Willem is awarded a Leverhulme Trust International Academic Fellowship to undertake a research visit to the University of Twente in the Netherlands.

• February 2020 - Collaborative EPSRC funded work demonstrating the use of vanadium as an inert capping layer to protect half-Heusler thermoelectrics is accepted in Applied Surface Science.

• December 2019 - Jan-Willem is an invited speaker at MRM2019 in Yokohama, presenting the latest half-Heuslers compositions developed at Heriot-Watt, and gives research seminars at the University of Kyoto and Tokyo Institute of Technology.

• November 2019 - Our EPSRC funded work describing the beneficial impact of Cu on n-type XNiSn thermoelectrics is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A.

• September 2019 - Jan-Willem presents an overview of our half-Heusler research at the European Conference on Solid State Chemistry in Lille, France.

• July 2019 - Collaborative work with engineers assessing the promise of SnSe in dye sensitised solid cells is published in Solar Energy.

• July 2019 - Jan-Willem presents the latest EPSRC half-Heusler results at the International Conference on thermoelectrics in Gyeongju in Korea.

• June 2019 - Excellent news: our work on the cobalt antimony vacancy half-Heuslers is published as a cover article in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C. Pretty picture alert!

• May 2019 - Our work exploring new possible TiCoSb-based Heusler composites is published online in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry.

• March 2019 - Our paper assing the impact of vacancies and microstructure in the topical cobalt antimony based half-Heuslers is accepted in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

• March 2019 - Collaborative work with Prof Duncan Gregory (University of Glasgow) on SnSe - graphene thermoelectric nanocomposites is published in ACS Omega.

• February 2019 - Our paper on the thermal and heterogeneous electrical properties of phonon-glass SrTiO₃ is accepted into The Journal of Physical Chemistry C.

• January 2019 - Our PLD paper in the APL Materials Special Issue on Interfaces in Energy Materials is selected as cover article. A great honour.

• December 2018 - Robert presents his results on phase stability and single parabolic band analysis of half-Heuslers with excess copper at the annual RSC solid-state group Christmas meeting at UCL.

• November 2018 - Part of Maryana's PhD work on challenging TiCoSb based p-types is published as an invited contribution to a special issue on Heusler compounds in the journal Metals.

• October 2018 - Collaborative work, part of our EPSRC half-Heusler grant, on PLD deposition of TiNiSn is accepted into a special issue on Interfaces in Energy Materials in APL Materials. Well done to all.

• September 2018 - Jan-Willem gives a seminar on structure-property relationships in thermoelectric materials at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the University of Sheffield.

• August 2018 - Our combined structural and DFT investivation with Ingo Loa at the University of Edinburgh on the band-gap controlled properties of SnSe is published in Physical Review Materials.

• July 2018 - Jan-Willem and Srinivas present the latests results from our EPSRC half-Heusler project at the International Conference on Thermoelectrics in Caen, France.

• July 2018 - Jan-Willem visits the groups of Prof Anke Weidenkaff and Dr Benjamin Balke at the University of Stuttgart and gives an invited seminar on half-Heusler thermoelectrics.

• June 2018 - The Special Issue on Intermetallic Thermoelectrics in Materials, guest edited by Jan-Willem, is now up to eight published papers, including great work on half-Heuslers and silicides by some of the leading academic groups in the field.

• May 2018 - Congratulations to Kathryn MacIntosh for winning the AWE prize for best materials chemistry project for her work on half-Heusler thermoelectrics. Also to Mary Jones for winning the Watt medal for best student in the graduating year. Well done!

• April 2018 - Sonia's successfully defends her PhD thesis. Well done Dr Barczak, many congratulations!

• March 2018 - Sonia's paper on the impact of interstitial Ni on the electrical and thermal properties of TiNiSn is published in the Special Issue on Half-Heusler, Silicide and Zintl-type Thermoelectrics in Materials.

• March 2018 - Jan-Willem is on the programme committee and chairs the Physical Crystallography Group "Hot Topics" session at the BCA Spring Meeting at the University of Warwick.

• March 2018 - Our paper with the group of Duncan Gregory on topotactic anion exchange in thermoelectric SnSe is published in Chemical Science. A great result!

• Februari 2018 - Jan-Willem and Nick Bennett organise a very successful UK thermoelectric network meeting in the ECCI in Edinburgh.

• Februari 2018 - Congratulations to Sonia for submitting her PhD thesis. Well done Sonia!

• January 2018 - More good news, Sonia's paper demonstrating viable thermoelectric performance in TiNiSn half-Heuslers without Hf is accepted into ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces.

• January 2018 - A good start of the year - Daniella's paper on the formation and impact of vacancies in the NbCoSn-NbCoSb half-Heuslers is accepted in Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics.

• December 2017 - Daniella presents a poster on NbCoSn-NbCoSb thermoelectrics at the RSC solid-state group Christmas meeting at the University of Reading.

• November 2017 - We had a very productive EPSRC half-Heusler project meeting at Royal Holloway University. With thanks to Professor Jon Goff for input into the scientific discussion.

• October 2017 - Jan-Willem publishes an invited scientific commentary on the computational exploration of strain tuneable spintronic Heuslers for IUCrJ.

• October 2017 - Congratulation to Maryana for finding a postdoc job at the University of Manchester. Well done!

• September 2017 - Sonia, Srinivas and Jan-Willem all present at the European Conference on Thermoelectrics in Padova.

• July 2017 - Srinivas gave a presentation on our SnSe results at the European Conference on Solid State Chemistry in Glasgow, while Daniella and Maryana presented posters on half-Heuslers.

• June 2017 - Our paper on the similarities between SnSe and classical phonon glass electron crystal thermoelectrics is published in Applied Physics Letters. Follow this link for the manuscript.

• May 2017 - Jan-Willem co-organises and presents at the Quantum, Electronic and Magnetic Materials meeting at the Centre for Science at Extreme Conditions at the University of Edinburgh.

• April 2017 - Jan-Willem co-organised the Physical Crystallography Programme of the BCA Spring Meeting in Lancaster and chaired a session on Distortions and Dynamics

• April 2017 - Jan-Willem gave an invited talk on our half-Heusler research at the ETP-SHFCA: Energy Storage in a Changing World Meeting in Edinburgh.

• March 2017 - Many congratulations to Maryana for successfully defending her PhD thesis on TiCoSb-based half-Heusler thermoelectrics. Well done Dr Asaad!

• March 2017 - Hosted Dr Shintaro Ishiwata from the University of Tokyo who presented some great results on unusual thermoelectric properties in correlated electronic materials.

• Februari 2017 - Published two excellent collaborative papers with the Gregory group on nanoparticulate SnSe and SnTe thermoelectrics in Advanced Energy Materials and Materials, respectively. See the publication page for details.

• February 2017 - Srinivas gave a very well received talk on our latest results on SnSe at the EPSRC Thermoelectric Network Meeting in Manchester. Great effort.

• January 2017 - Hosted Dr Mark Senn from the University of Oxford who gave a very insightful talk on the power of symmetry analysis of functional materials.

• November 2016 - We undertook our first ever inelastic neutron scattering experiment on the Mari instrument at ISIS and combined this with a productive EPSRC half-Heusler grant project meeting.

• October 2016 - Jan-Willem gave an invited talk on half-Heusler thermoelectrics at the EPSRC Thermoelectric Network meeting in Glasgow.

• September 2016 - Jan-Willem co-organised a successful symposium on thermoelectric materials at the European Physical Society: Condensed Matter Division conference in Groningen. Srinivas gave a well received talk on the thermoelectric properties of SnSe.

• August 2016 - It's now official: Jan-Willem is promoted to Associate Professor (Reader) in Energy Materials. Thanks to the group for all their hard work!

• July 2016 - Jan-Willem attended the Gordon Research Conference in Solid State Chemistry at Colby Sawyer College and presented recent work on nanocomposite half-Heusler alloys.

• June 2016 - Our conference paper on the possiblity of phonon-glass electron crystal behaviour in SrTiO₃ is published in MRS Advances.

• June 2016 - Last missing piece of the thermoelectric characterisation suite - a Linseis laser flash instrument is installed in our lab - very exciting!

• June 2016 - Collaborative work with Dr Ingo Loa on the crystal and electronic structure of high-pressure bismuth telluride phases is accepted in Physical Review B. See the publications page for details.

• June 2016 - Maryana's work on the high-temperature stability of TiCoSb based half-Heuslers is published in RSC Advances.

• May 2016 - Our article on nanocomposite half-Heuslers is selected for a special virtual issue on thermoelectric materials in Chemistry of Materials.

• April 2016 - Our Journal of Materials Chemistry article on texturing in SnSe is highlighed in the news section of the MRS Bulletin!

• April 2016 - Collaborative research with the Gregory group in Glasgow on the facile synthesis of SnSe nanoparticles is published in Angewandte Chemie.

• March 2016 - Our recent EPSRC funding award on nanostructured half-Heuslers attracts interest in the online editions of the Engineer and the Chemical Engineer magazines.

• February 2016 - More good news: Our manuscript on large thermoelectric power factors and the impact of texturing on the thermal conductivity of SnSe is published in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C. The article can be found here.

• January 2016 - Many congratulations to Srinivas who is awarded a prestigious Marie Curie Individual Fellowship to work in Bordeaux. Excellent news and well done!

• December 2015 - Srinivas gives an oral presentation on A-site deficient perovskites and presents a poster on SnSe at the RSC Solid State Group Christmas meeting at the University of Kent.

• October 2015 - Funding success!! We have been awarded a large EPSRC grant to investigate nanostructured half-Heusler thermoelectrics. The project involves collaborators from Glasgow, Royal Holloway and industry. More information can be found here.

• August 2015 - A paper containing detailed neutron powder diffraction studies and single parabolic band analysis of XNiSn half-Heuslers is accepted into a special issue on thermoelectrics in the Journal of Materials Chemistry C.

• July 2015 - Collaborative papers with Dr Liliana Viciu at the ETH in Zurich and Dr Nick Bennett at Heriot-Watt are accepted into Inorganic Chemistry and Nano Energy, respectively, see the publications page for further details.

• May 2015 - Srinivas wins first prize in the Annual EPS Postgraduate Research Photo Competition. Well done Srinivas.

• May 2015 - Ruth wins third place in the RSC Energy Sector PhD Thesis Award Competition 2014. Well done Ruth!

• April 2015 - Diana Jelenova is awarded a prestigious RSC undergraduate bursary to undertake a project on metal oxide redox cycles during the summer.

• March 2015 - A manuscript based on Sonia's undergraduate research project work on manganese silicides has been accepted for publication in the Journal of Solid State Chemistry.

• March 2015 - Ruth's prize winning PhD research on TiNiM_ySn nanocomposites is published in Chemistry of Materials.

• January 2015 - Collaborative research investigating the structure of the high ZT material SnSe at high pressures has been published as a fast track communication in the Journal of Physics Condensed Matter.

• December 2014 - Sonia shares the prize for best poster at the annual RSC solid state group Christmas meeting held at the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde. Congratulations to Sonia.

• December 2014 - Our paper on the stability, structure and properties of nominally A-site deficient Sr₂FeMoO₆ has been accepted into a special issue on Perovskite materials in Dalton Transactions.

• November 2014 - Ruth is one the winners of the "Postgraduate Research Thesis Prize". This is the annual prize for best PhD thesis from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences. Well done Ruth!

• October 2014 - Our invited article on spark plasma sintering processed half-Heuslers has been published in a special issue on New Energy Materials in the open access journal Materials.

• August 2014 - Our invited Topical Review article "half-Heusler thermoelectrics: a complex class of materials" has been accepted into the Journal of Physics Condensed Matter.

• July 2014 - Our article describing possible phonon-glass electron-crystal behaviour in A-site deficient SrTiO₃ thermoelectric ceramics has been accepted into RSC Advances.

• June 2014 - A collaborative research article with the group of Prof. Paul Attfield at the University of Edinburgh has just been published in Angewandte Chemie. Please see the publications page for details.

• June 2014 - Ruth successfully defends her thesis and is now Dr. Ruth Downie. Well done!

• May 2014 - Sonia wins the AWE prize for best dissertation project in materials chemistry. Well done!

• April 2014 - Sonia Barczak presents the results of her MChem project at the 2014 SCI Undergraduate Symposium at the University of Glasgow.

• February 2014 - Jan-Willem attends the inaugural EPSRC Thermoelectric Network meeting on State-of-the-Art and Challenges in Thermoelectric Materials and their Applications at the Manchester Conference Centre, University of Manchester.

• December 2013 - Ruth wins the Roy Prize for the best student talk at the annual RSC solid state chemistry group Christmas meeting at the University of Bath. Well done Ruth!

• December 2013 - Collaborative work with scientists at the Julich Centre for Neutron Science and the Institute Laue Langevin has been accepted for publication in Physical Review B. The paper describes the investigation of the Nd crystal field excitations in the high-Tc parent material NdFeAsO.

• November 2013 - European Conference on Thermoelectrics. Ruth and Jan-Willem gave well received back to back presentations at the ECT 2013 conference at the European Space Agency in Noordwijk, The Netherlands.

• November 2013 - We have just had a paper accepted into an Emerging Investigators Issue in the Journal of Materials Chemistry A. The article describes the structural characterisation and thermoelectric performance of multiphase XNiSn half-Heuslers.

• October 2013 - Jan-Willem gave a research seminar on half-Heusler thermoelectrics to the condensed matter physics group at the University of Birmingham, and attended the second of the EPSRC Inspire grant meetings at the University of Oxford.

• September 2013 - Welcome to Sonia Barczak (MChem), Debbie Redpath (BSc) and Francis Henry (BSc) who will be doing their final year undergraduate research projects in the group. Congratulations to Gavin and Alexandros who successfully completed their projects and taught MSc degrees and both found industrial jobs. Well done.

• June 2013 - Gavin Chan and Alexandros Foteinogiannopoulos join the research group to undertake their taught MSc research project on oxide thermoelectrics, and catalysts for water splitting, respectively.

• May 2013 - The RSC Annual Report on New Structures and Compounds in the solid state authored by Jan-Willem Bos is now published online.

• May 2013 - Jan-Willem Bos is awarded a Carnegie Trust Large Research Grant in collaboration with Dr Chris Stock and Dr Mark de Vries of the University of Edinburgh, and Prof. Stephen Lee at the University of St Andrews.

• April 2013 - Our collaborative research investigating the unusual magnetic ground state in the double perovskite oxide Ba₂YMoO₆ is published in the New Journal of Physics.

• Jan 2013 - Jan-Willem Bos is awarded a collaborative EPSRC "Inspire" grant with investigators from the Universities of Glasgow, Leeds, Liverpool and Oxford. The title is "INSPIRE Physical Sciences: A synergy for next generation materials science"

• Dec 2012 - Our work demonstrating good thermoelectric performance in TiNiSn is published in an Invited Emerging Investigators issue in the high-impact journal Chemical Communications. The article can be found here.