Design, synthesis and characterization of responsive solid-state materials

响应材料在施加的力或场下表现出独特的物理响应。这种物理响应与固态相的出色机械性能相结合，产生了在工业和消费者层面都有应用的功能材料。该研究将集中在两个领域的响应固态材料：热电相和无机磷光体。* 热电材料在受到温度梯度时产生电压，或在电流通过时进行冷却/加热。目前，热电材料用于深空使命、远程气象和导航系统的发电，以及电子设备和汽车座椅的冷却。由于超过一半的能量以废热的形式损失，研究工作开始集中在通过热电发电机回收其中的一些能量，特别是在汽车和大型工业运营中。我们的目标是开发用于余热回收的高性能热电材料。磷光体材料广泛用于LED和荧光照明，其中它们将蓝色或UV辐射下转换成绿色、黄色和红色光。磷光体的另一个日益增长的应用是温度测量;磷光体被激光照射，并测量发射的低能量光的寿命。寿命与温度有关，其值产生温度。磷光体允许在远距离和其他技术无法使用的环境中进行温度感测，例如在电力变压器中，在石油或天然气开采期间的地下。存在对具有长寿命、可以在宽温度范围内和化学苛刻环境中操作的磷光体的需求。此外，相同的磷光体可用于照明。由于加拿大在这一领域没有研究机构，我们建议制定一项关于无机磷光体的竞争性计划。该研究的短期目标是发现和表征新型高性能热电材料和磷光体。从长远来看，我们的目标是更深入地了解这些类型材料的组成-结构-性能关系，并将所获得的知识用于新材料的快速和有针对性的设计。在热电领域，我们将致力于合成新型高温热电（RE，Ca）mPnnOm磷族化合物氧化物（RE是稀土，Pn是Sb或Bi），并将该系列扩展到其他磷族化合物。（RE，Ca）mPnnOm的研究是我们集团的先驱，我们希望保持我们在这一领域的领先地位。在无机磷光体中，我们将专注于有针对性地合成Mg、Ge和Pb的新磷光氟氧化物，这将允许掺入具有长寿命的明亮发光体（如Mn 4+）。另一个平行的方向是开发可以在宽温度范围内工作的化学惰性磷光体。

Responsive materials exhibit unique physical responses under applied forces or fields. Combination of such physical responses with outstanding mechanical properties of solid-state phases yields functional materials that find applications both at the industrial and consumer levels. The research will focus on two areas of responsive solid-state materials: thermoelectric phases and inorganic phosphors. ***Thermoelectric materials generate voltage when subject to a temperature gradient or perform cooling/heating when current is passed through them. Currently, thermoelectric materials are used for power generation in deep-space mission, remote weather and navigation systems, and for cooling in electronic devices and car seats. And since more than half of the energy is lost as a waste heat, research efforts start to focus on recovering some of this energy, especially in cars and large industrial operations, through thermoelectric generators. Our goal is to develop high-performance thermoelectric materials for the waste heat recovery.***Phosphor materials are extensively used for the LED and fluorescent lighting, where they downconvert the blue or UV radiation into green, yellow and red light. Another growing application of phosphors is temperature measurement; a phosphor is illuminated by a laser and the lifetime of the emitted lower-energy light is measured. The lifetime is temperature dependent and its value yields the temperature. Phosphors allow temperature sensing at large distances and in the environments were other techniques cannot be used, e.g. in electrical transformers, underground during oil or gas extraction. There is demands for phosphors that have long lifetimes, can operate in a wide temperature range and in chemically harsh environments. Additionally, the same phosphors can be used for lighting. Since there is no Canadian research presence in this area, we propose to develop a competitive program on inorganic phosphors.***The short term goals of the proposed research will be discovery and characterization of novel, high-performance thermoelectric materials and phosphors. In the long run, we aim to develop a deeper understanding of the composition-structure-property relationship in these types of materials, and to use the obtained knowledge for the rapid and targeted design of new materials.***In the thermoelectric field, we will pursue synthesis of novel high-temperature thermoelectric (RE,Ca)mPnnOm pnictide oxides (RE is a rare earth, Pn is Sb or Bi) and will expand this series to other pnictides. Research on (RE,Ca)mPnnOm was pioneered in our group and we would like to maintain our leading role in this area.***Among the inorganic phosphors, we will focus on the targeted synthesis of new phosphorescent oxyfluorides of Mg, Ge and Pb, which would permit incorporation of bright emitters (such as Mn4+) with long lifetimes. Another parallel direction is development of chemically inert phosphors that can operate in a wide temperature range.**