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Together Tyndall celebrates the winners and finalists of the 2020 Postgraduate Publication of the Year.
Despite a challenging a year, our students achieved outstanding discoveries and results as part of their PhD projects, some even opening major new possibilities in their field.
Dr. Fatima Gunning, Senior Staff Researcher & Head of Graduate Studies at Tyndall, praised the entries, saying: “This year we had twice as many submissions for the Postgraduate Research Publication of Year. Besides lockdowns and restricted access to labs, our students excelled in their research outcomes. We also noted a number of students with exceptional publications at very early stages in their PhDs, and we couldn’t let this pass in blank, so we created a new award - the Rising Talent Award. Congratulations to all!"
Winner
“Giant thermoelectric power factor in charged ferroelectric domain walls of GeTe with Van Hove singularities.”
1. What encouraged you to submit your application to the 2020 Postgraduate Research Publication of the Year?
The Postgraduate Publication of the Year competition is a great opportunity to promote one’s work to a wider audience both inside the Institute and externally. Additionally, it is a nice addition to my CV.
2. What inspired you to choose the subject of your paper?
The subject of my paper is a natural continuation from my previous work. At first, the ferroelectric domain walls seemed promising as simple barriers to a phonon thermal transport inside a thermoelectric material. Later, during discussions with my supervisors, we realised that these structures also have electronic properties that might be beneficial to the overall efficiency of thermoelectric materials. This realisation is the motivation behind this work.
3. What’s your paper about and how did you prepare for it? What role did research excellence play in your approach?
The main idea of this paper is to use the exceptional electronic properties of charged ferroelectric domain walls to enhance the thermoelectric efficiency of germanium telluride. Our approach involved combining ideas from multidisciplinary research areas such as materials science, electronic band structure theory and physics of transport processes. It also involved writing a computer code to numerically solve physics equations. Our work presents a design for a nano thermoelectric device based on ferroelectric domain walls.
4. The selection for Research Publication of the Year is extremely competitive. What is your advice for those aspiring for nomination next year?
Focus on topics you are genuinely interested in or passionate about, and the results will follow.
5. What is the single most significant support Tyndall has been able to offer you in achieving your research goals?
It allowed me to work alongside very talented young researchers, as well as accomplished and experienced people. Without their key insights this publication would not have been possible. Additionally, having access to large, on-site computational resources was extremely convenient and it sped up the research significantly.
Ðorđe Dangić; Stephen Fahy; Ivana Savic, “Giant thermoelectric power factor in charged ferroelectric domain walls of GeTe with Van Hove singularities”, npj Comput Mater 6, 195 (2020).