Precise temperature control is critical in healthcare, especially for storing and transporting vaccines,
medicines, blood products, and biological samples. Portable medical refrigerators must maintain stable temperatures within ±0.1 K, while also being compact and reliable. Thermoelectric cooling devices, which can pump heat from one side to the other based on the Peltier effect, offer unique advantages such as small size, quiet operation, and high temperature control accuracy without harmful refrigerants.

However, widely used commercial materials like bismuth telluride are expensive, difficult to produce at scale, and sometimes toxic. Their poor long-term stability also limits practical use.

This project aims to develop safer and more affordable thermoelectric materials based on magnesium compounds. We will improve their performance near room temperature and establish scalable production methods. At the same time, we will create a multi-dimensional high-throughput screening method to identify interfacial materials that are stable, mechanically strong, and allow good electrical contact for thermoelectric devices. Our goal is to create a fully optimized, high performance
thermoelectric cooling system suitable for medical cold chain applications.