About

Pierre Ferdinand P. Poudeu is a professor at the University of Michigan in the Michigan Materials Science and Engineering department. He holds a B.S. in Chemistry and an M.S. in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Yaoundé-I, obtained in 1996 and 1998 respectively, and a Ph.D. in Inorganic Solid State Chemistry from Dresden University of Technology in 2004. His research efforts are devoted to the design, synthesis, and evaluation of solid-state inorganic materials with the goal of discovering new materials with significantly useful technological applications that combine multiple interesting physical properties. He focuses on understanding and controlling the interplay between coexisting functionalities in materials, with particular interest in promising materials for spintronic, energy conversion (thermoelectric, photovoltaic), and energy storage applications. Poudeu has held prior academic positions at the University of New Orleans and Northwestern University, and has served as an Early Research Professor, with recognition including the NSF-CAREER Award in 2010. He currently teaches courses such as MSE560 Structure of Materials and MSE440 Ceramic Materials.

Research topics

• Organic chemistry
• Physical chemistry
• Thermodynamics
• Chemistry
• Physics
• Metallurgy
• Materials science
• Optoelectronics
• Chemical physics

Selected publications

• Regulating the Local Order of Cations Significantly Enhances the Thermoelectric Performance of Pb-Doped AgSbSe₂

  Chemistry of Materials · 2025-07-31 · 1 citations

  article

  The high configurational disorder of Ag and Sb on the cation sites in the AgSbSe2 crystal structure leads to ultralow thermal conductivity. However, such random cation disorder also disrupts delocalized charge carriers, leading to intrinsically low carrier mobility and poor electrical transport properties. All these pose a great challenge for improving the thermoelectric performance of AgSbSe2 compounds. Here, we demonstrate that the partial substitution of trivalent Sb3+ ions with divalent Pb2+ ions on the disordered cation sites enhances the cation ordering within AgSbSe2, forming a partially ordered structure. This cation ordering decreases the activation energy associated with electronic hopping conduction, consequently lowering the potential barrier for localized electrons and restricting them to a lower temperature. This effect significantly mitigates electron localization, thereby substantially enhancing the carrier mobility from 0.01 cm2 V–1 s–1 for pristine AgSbSe2 to 5.2 cm2 V–1 s–1 for AgSb0.94Pb0.06Se2 at 30 K. In conjunction with the improved carrier concentration upon doping with Pb, the power factor increases from 0.11 mW m–1 K–2 for pristine AgSbSe2 to 0.6 mW m–1 K–2 for AgSb0.96Pb0.04Se2 at 300 K. Coupled with the ultralow thermal conductivity of AgSbSe2, the figure of merit (zT) improved from 0.35 for AgSbSe2 to 1.26 at 690 K for AgSb0.96Pb0.04Se2, indicating an enhancement of approximately 3.5 times. This study presents a novel approach to augmenting the thermoelectric efficiency of materials through the manipulation of cation ordering.

  PublisherDOI

• Regulation of Anderson localization for enhancing thermoelectric properties in Mn doped AgSbSe₂ compounds

  Journal of Materials Chemistry A · 2025-01-01 · 6 citations

  article

  Mn doping shifts the mobility edge ( E C ) away from the Fermi level ( E F ), weakening the electron localization effect and significantly improving electrical conductivity. Ultimately, AgSb 0.98 Mn 0.02 Se 2 achieves a zT value of 1.1 at 690 K.

  PublisherDOI

• Efficient First-Principles Framework for Overdamped Phonon Dynamics and Anharmonic Electron-Phonon Coupling in Superionic Materials

  ArXiv.org · 2025-02-11

  preprintOpen access

  Relying on the anharmonic special displacement method, we introduce an ab initio quasistatic polymorphous framework to describe local disorder, anharmonicity, and electron-phonon coupling in superionic conductors. Using the example of cubic Cu2Se, we show that positional polymorphism yields extremely overdamped anharmonic vibrations while preserving transverse acoustic phonons, consistent with experiments. We also demonstrate well-defined electronic band structures with large band gap openings due to polymorphism of 1.0 eV and calculate anharmonic electron-phonon renormalization, yielding band gap narrowing with increasing temperature in agreement with previous measurements. Our approach opens the way for efficient ab initio electronic structure calculations in superionic crystals to elucidate their compelling high figure-of-merit.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Intrinsically Ultra-low Lattice Thermal Conductivity and Excellent Thermoelectric Performance in Complex Layered Pb₄In_2.8Bi_3.2Se₁₃ Compound

  Chemistry of Materials · 2025-08-18

  article

  The complex atomic structure of the Pb4In2.8Bi3.2Se13 compound has been investigated, crystallizing in orthorhombic Pbam (a = 22.093 Å, b = 27.398 Å, c = 4.1324 Å). Its crystal structure exhibits a 3D framework, wherein bicapped trigonal prisms of Pb2+ ions bridge InSe4 tetrahedra and (Bi/In)Se6 octahedra. This framework incorporates Z-shaped chains of distorted Bi3+ octahedra and linear chains of In3+ tetrahedra propagating along the c-axis. The synergistic effects of Pb/Bi s2 lone-pair electron distortion-induced coordination environments and weak In–Se covalent bonds significantly suppress phonon propagation, resulting in intrinsically low va (1689 m s–1) and ultra-low θD (86 K). These collectively enable intrinsically ultra-low κL (0.27 W m–1 K–1 at 723 K). Meanwhile, electronic transport properties were effectively optimized by doping with Cl, achieving a peak PF of 0.23 mW m–1 K–2 at 723 K. Consequently, the Cl-doped Pb4In2.8Bi3.2Se12.805Cl0.195 compound reached ZT = 0.54 at 723 K, representing a 260% improvement over the undoped intrinsic sample.

  PublisherDOI

• Efficient First-Principles Framework for Overdamped Phonon Dynamics and Anharmonic Electron-Phonon Coupling in Superionic Materials

  Physical Review Letters · 2025-07-07 · 3 citations

  article

  Relying on the anharmonic special displacement method, we introduce an ab initio quasistatic polymorphous framework to describe local disorder, anharmonicity, and electron-phonon coupling in superionic conductors. Using cubic Cu_{2}Se, we show that positional polymorphism yields the breakdown of the phonon quasiparticle picture, leading to extremely overdamped anharmonic vibrations while preserving transverse acoustic phonons, consistent with experiments. We also demonstrate highly broadened electronic spectral functions with band gap openings of 1.0 eV due to polymorphism, and that anharmonic electron-phonon coupling leads to a band gap narrowing with increasing temperature. Our approach, relying on generating a handful of configurations, opens the way for efficient calculations in superionic crystals to elucidate their compelling high figure of merit.

  PublisherDOI

• Avoiding surface defect-catalyzed oxidation for extraordinary thermoelectric performance in n-type iodine-doped PbTe compounds

  Journal of Materials Chemistry A · 2025-01-01 · 1 citations

  article

  Argon protection suppresses oxygen-induced defects, enabling ultrahigh mobility (1800 cm 2 V −1 s −1 ) and a record power factor in n-type PbTe.

  PublisherDOI

• Realization of defects evolution for boosting thermoelectric properties in Sb doped PbSe

  Materials Today Physics · 2025-12-16 · 1 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• Realization of Defects evolution for Boosting Thermoelectric properties in Sb Doped PbSe

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2025-01-01

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Regulation of Dynamic Recrystallization in p-Type Bi2Te3-Based Compounds Leads to High Thermoelectric Performance and Robust Mechanical Properties

  SSRN Electronic Journal · 2024-01-01 · 7 citations

  preprintOpen access
  PublisherDOI

• Rational Design of Cu Vacancies and Antisite Defects for Boosting the Thermoelectric Properties of CuGaTe₂-Based Compounds

  ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces · 2024-07-18 · 6 citations

  article

  CuGaTe2-based compounds show great promise in the application for high-temperature thermoelectric power generation; however, its wide bandgap feature poses a great challenge for enhancing thermoelectric performance via structural defects modulation and doping the system. Herein, it is discovered that the presence of GaCu antisite defects in the CuGaTe2 compound promotes the formation of Cu vacancies, and vice versa, which tends to form the charge-neutral structure defects combination with one GaCu antisite defect and two Cu vacancies. The accumulation of Cu vacancies in the structure of the (Cu2Te)x(Ga2Te3)1–x compounds evolves into twins and stacking faults. This in conjunction with GaCu antisite defects intensify the point defects phonon scattering, yielding a dramatic reduction on lattice thermal conductivity from 6.95 W m–1 K–1 for the pristine CuGaTe2 sample to 2.98 W m–1 K–1 for the (Cu2Te)0.45(Ga2Te3)0.55 sample at room temperature. Furthermore, the high concentration of charge-neutral defects combination narrows the band gap and increases the carrier concentration, leading to an improved power factor of 1.58 mW/mK2 at 600 K for the (Cu2Te)0.49(Ga2Te3)0.51 sample, which is 41% higher than for the pristine CuGaTe2 sample. Consequently, the highest ZT value of 0.82 is achieved at 915 K for Cu0.015(Cu2Te)0.48(Ga2Te3)0.52, which represents an enhancement of about 22% over that of the pristine CuGaTe2 compound.

  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Understanding Electronic and Magnetic Interactions in Complex Mixed Metal Chalcogenides

  NSF · $895k · 2016–2021

• CAREER: Understanding and Controlling the Integration of Magnetism into Semiconducting Mixed Metal Chalcogenides

  NSF · $468k · 2010–2012

• CAREER: Understanding and Controlling the Integration of Magnetism into Semiconducting Mixed Metal Chalcogenides

  NSF · $350k · 2012–2015

Frequent coauthors

• Ctirad Uher

  Michigan United

  103 shared

• Alan Olvera

  50 shared

• Honore Djieutedjeu

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  48 shared

• Alexander Page

  University of Michigan–Ann Arbor

  42 shared

• Nathan J. Takas

  Georgia Southern University

  39 shared

• Pranati Sahoo

  37 shared

• Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

  Northwestern University

  31 shared

• Trevor P. Bailey

  30 shared

Education

• PhD, Inorganic Chemistry

  Technische Universität Dresden

  2004

• MS, Inorganic Chemistry

  University of Yaoundé-I

  1998

Awards & honors

• UNO "Early Research Professor" Award (2010)
• NSF-CAREER Award (2010)
• Guest Editor- Special Issue “Advanced Thermoelectric Materia…