Research Projects

Materials are key parts of technology advancement. Their discovery, analysis and, finally, commercialization enable the society to cope with the technological challenges, economy problems and environmental issues. Current technological trends impose several conditions upon the development of devices used: smaller size, lower cost, higher efficiency and better performance. The proposed project will concern these conditions regarding the material candidates for advanced technology applications. An alternative group of 2D materials emerged, with tunable semiconducting properties complemented by a beneficial structural flexibility. These materials allowed a myriad of experimental studies of their electronic properties relevant to applications in electronic devices. First synthesis (graphene not included) was documented several years ago for silicene in 2010, followed by phosphorene, borophene, and germanene in 2014, stanene in 2015, antimonene in 2017 and monolayer of gallium in 2018. We propose new 2D MXenes materials that lead to advanced thermal control for dynamically modulating the heat dissipated to actively regulate the temperature of electronics and batteries in warm and cold environments, increasing their performance, lifetime and protecting other system components. A new generation of circuit designs with integrated electronic and heat control and that enable the development of smart thermal management technology for heat recovery and energy reduction. Developing new materials for thermal transistors is the first big leap towards this goal. Their integration in electro- thermal systems will contribute to better energy harvesting or storage becoming an accelerator for our sustainable energy transition.  Thermoelectrics: Predictions consider MXenes as potential candidates for improved heat to electrical conversion.  Energy storage: The MXenes developed in this proposal will result in an exceptional capacity to store Li ions at high speeds, becoming ideal for fundamental research of new batteries.  Optics : 2D materials have been considered for metasurface-based flat optics.  Batteries: Thermal transistors could avoid battery overheating by facilitating heat dissipation or energy drops in cold environment by retaining heat.  Electronics: Thermal transistors would enable the storage of heat in a thermal capacitor for some period of time, rather than letting the heat directly flow through the heat engine at all times. It is always thermodynamically advantageous, having very good implications on thermoelectric waste heat recovery.