Dr Oliver Fenwick
MA MSci PhD

Research Funding

On this page:

• Current Funded Research Projects
• Previous Funded Research Projects
• Other Research Projects

Current Funded Research Projects

All-printed thermoelectric generators Funding source: Royal Society Start: 01-10-2017  /  End: 31-03-2021 Amount: £110,748 Organic thermoelectric materials are in the early stages of development, and the excitement surrounding them lies in their low cost, solution processability (they can be printed) and their mechanical flexibility. In short, they could revolutionise thermoelectric power generation. In this project, an OTEG will be fabricated on paper by a novel printing process. It is a cheap, scalable process that is much-needed for OTEGs to become reality. Furthermore, this project follows the conviction that a fundamental understanding of OTEG device physics will accelerate the development of improved thermoelectric materials

HYPERTHERM - Hybrid organic-inorganic Perovskite Thermoelectrics Funding source: EU Commission - Horizon 2020 Start: 11-03-2019  /  End: 10-03-2021 Amount: £146,764 HYPERTHERM will investigate new thermoelectric materials, specifically hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites, which are solution processable (printable), abundant and low cost. These materials are well-known in their undoped form in solar cells, and there are good indications that their superb electrical and thermal properties are well-suited to thermoelectric applications. However, to become good thermoelectric materials, they must be electrically doped to increase their conductivity. The principle scientific aim of this proposal is therefore to learn how to control doping in these exciting materials to boost their thermoelectric performance.

University Research Fellowship Funding source: The Royal Society Start: 10-05-2015  /  End: 18-10-2020 Amount: £491,780 Organic Thermoelectrics in Multiple Structural and Transport Regimes.

Replacing Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) with next-generation graphene in electronic devices Funding source: Innovate UK Start: 01-01-2019  /  End: 30-09-2020 Amount: £153,002 Indium is expensive and is on the EU Critical Materials List. This project is to explore replacing Indium Tin Oxide (ITO) with next-generation graphene provided by the industrial partner Paragraf.

Previous Funded Research Projects

International Exchanges Scheme: Italy Funding source: The Royal Society Start: 01-03-2017  /  End: 31-08-2019 The purpose of this project is to develop a deep understanding of the role selfassembly in tuning thermoelectric properties of organic materials. Organic thermoelectric materials are heavily doped organic semiconductors. Despite their propensity for self-assembly into a range of intriguing morphologies, this mechanism has not been fully investigated and developed in the context of thermoelectrics.

Towards in-vivo electrochemical imaging with flexible, light-addressable electrodes Funding source: Royal Society Start: 15-03-2018  /  End: 14-03-2019 High-resolution mapping of chemical activity of cells on surfaces is important for the understanding biological processes. We are aiming to develop the first flexible and biocompatible electrochemical imaging chip for in-vivo imaging of cell activity. The groundwork for this will be laid by this PhD project by developing novel organic semiconductor coatings suitable for high-resolution photocurrent imaging and measurement of cell-signalling processes such as cell impedance, cell surface charges, release of metabolites and neurotransmitters.

Other Research Projects

Towards in-vivo electrochemical imaging Flexible organic semiconductor-based chips can be used as light-addressable electrochemical sensors. This project will develop such chips.

Halide perovskite thermoelectric materials Hybrid organic-inorganic perovskites have great promise as thermoelectric materials due to their exceptionally low thermal conductivities and high charge mobilities. This project will focus on characterising a range of these materials prepared by vapour deposition or from solution.

6. Completed project (2013 - 2015) MULTITUDES: Multifunctional organic electronics through nano-scale controlled bottum-up tailoring of interfaces. Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowship. Increasing functionality of organic devices through chemisorption of optically addressable monolayers on the electrodes.

5. Candidates for postdoctoral fellowships We are interested in candidates who may wish to jointly apply for national fellowshipschemes (EPSRC, Leverhulme etc.) or European fellowships (Marie Sklodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships). Candidates should make contact well before the submission deadline for the relevant fellowship scheme.

4. Charge transport in organic thermoelectric materials Study of the effect of the regime of charge transport (band-like, hopping and superconducting) on the thermoelectric properties of organic materials.

3. Hybrid Thermoelectric Materials Through DNA Assembly This project is co-hosted with Dr Matteo Palma, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences.

2. Low dimensional organic thermoelectric structures Study of the physics of 1- and 2-dimensional organic thermoelectrics assembled by either bottom-up or top-down approaches.

1. Organic Thermoelectric Materials: Molecular and Supramolecular Approaches. A Chinese student with a physics or materials science background is sought for a CSC PhD scholarship to work in the laboratory of Dr Oliver Fenwick.