NASA Postdoctoral Program - Inorganic and ductile thermoelectric materials for development of efficient thermal blankets and powering sensors

The NASA Postdoctoral Program (NPP) offers unique research opportunities to highly-talented scientists to engage in ongoing NASA research projects. This specific opportunity focuses on developing efficient, rugged, and lightweight thermal blankets for lunar missions using thermoelectric materials. The research addresses the challenge of surviving lunar winters for long-duration surface exploration. With recent discoveries of ductile and inorganic thermoelectric alloys, particularly silver chalcogenide based materials, there is potential to develop efficient and flexible thermal management solutions. These materials demonstrate exceptional ductility, excellent thermoelectric performance near room temperature, and can handle more than 50% strain without cracking. The research will explore both p- and n-type materials, contact metallization, device fabrication, bonding techniques, and thermal cycling stability for deployment in space missions for power generation or thermal management applications. This one- to three-year competitive fellowship advances NASA's missions in space science, Earth science, aeronautics, space operations, exploration systems, and astrobiology.