Dr. Ryoji Funahashi

　　

 

　　Dr. Ryoji Funahashi now is a Chief Senior Researcher of Inorganic Functional Materials Research Institute, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Osaka, Japan. He got his Doctor of Engineering from Nagoya University in 1998. His researching topics are solid state chemistry and physics of inorganic substances, especially thermoelectric and superconducting materials. He has reported promissing thermoelectric propertiy at high temperature in air for misfit layered cobaltites, Ca3Co4O9 and Bi2Sr2Co2O9 in 1999. After the discovery of the cobaltites, he succeded to produce some types of thermoelectric modules (plate, pipe type modules etc.) composed of the oxide materials in 2005. He developed thermoelectric generation units and tested them in incinerlators, industrial furnaces, diesel engines, etc. In order to supply these thermoelectric units for waste heat recovery, he established a startup company in May 2010. Rcesently he started to explore new silicide themoelectric materials for medium temperature application. An n-type Mn3Si4Al2 was reported in 2012. He is developing the module producion using the silicide materials.

　　Dr. Ryoji Funahashi appointed to a part-time lecturer of Nagoya University in Japan etc. and an invited researcher of CRISMAT, CNRS in France etc. as well. He contributes to thermoelectric academia as a board member of International Thermoelectric Society and Thermoelectric Society of Japan from 2002. He organized 32nd International Conference on Thermoelectrics in 2013 in Kobe, Japan. He is selcted an academician of International Thermoelectric Academy in 2015. He received Best Paper Award of Thermoelectric Society of Japan in 2000 and Paper Award of Japanese Journal of Applied Physics in 2001.