Rodrigo Coelho, a PhD student at the Instituto Superior Técnico, in the Centro de Ciências e Tecnologias Nucleares (C2TN), in Loures, was awarded an honourable mention on the 24th of July as part of the 3rd Edition of the Summer School Materials for Energy Transition, for his research work entitled “From Materials to Devices, a Journey Through Sustainable Thermoelectric Materials”.
Rodrigo Coelho’s work focused on developing sustainable, low-cost thermoelectric materials for large-scale applications. He intends to build and test prototype thermoelectric generators for converting heat into electricity using these new materials, in order to contribute to greater autonomy and energy efficiency in production processes.
“Many industries, such as cement, metallurgy, ceramics or glass, generate large amounts of heat during production, most of which is wasted. Thermoelectric generators can simply and directly convert this heat into electricity, increasing energy efficiency, reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and reducing the ecological footprint,” said Rodrigo Coelho in his oral presentation.
The Honourable Mention, presented by João Manuel Dias de Sousa, founder and chairman of the company Dias de Sousa S.A., was awarded by the jury, made up of the members of the event`s Scientific Committee, namely Rosário Correia (University of Aveiro) and Alexandra Barreiros (National Energy and Geology Laboratory).
The award recognizes the productivity and impact of Rodrigo Coelho’s scientific work in the field of energy materials.
Promoted by the Portuguese Materials Society (SPM), in partnership with the Order of Engineers, the Summer School – a centre of learning with debate sessions that aims to mobilise companies, students, academics and other stakeholders around the importance of the current problem of energy transition and the indispensable contribution of materials – took place on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th of July 2024 at the Physics Department of the University of Aveiro.
