One of the key challenges for society in the next century will be to develop new technologies to generate enough energy to meet our growing demand. Thermoelectric materials which generate electricity from waste heat have a huge potential to meet part of our energy needs, but existing materials do not satisfy the performance requirements of applications. Developing novel approaches to thermoelectric materials is therefore a key challenge of materials science. Hybrid approaches which combine the excellent electrical properties of carbon materials with the mechanical flexibility and chemical versatility of organic materials are a very promising platform on which to optimize thermoelectric performance. In this project, we intend to develop strategies to control the self assembly of Carbon- and DNA based nanostructures to tune thermoelectric properties. The project has two main aims:
•    Develop composites that exploit DNA to tune the thermoelectric properties of carbon nanotube networks with application to thermoelectric generators.
•    Develop DNA-carbon nanotube nanostructures as nanoscale platforms for single-molecule thermoelectric investigations.

To apply please send Dr Fenwick (o.fenwick@qmul.ac.uk) your CV, a short statement outlining why are you interested in this PhD opportunity.