Who am I? Jerzy Leszczynski Professor of Chemistry and President’s Distinguished Fellow Jackson State University

In Search of Novel Materials for Naval Applications Effect of Interface Reconstruction on the Mechanical Properties of Al/Al2O3 Multilayers Objective Investigation of electronic structure and mechanical properties of Al/Al2O3 composite Prediction of effect of interfacial orientation on the physical properties of composite Accomplishment Obtained the most energetically favorable α-Al/γ- Al2O3 interfacial atomic structure based on computed decohesive energies using DFT The improved thermo-electric conversion efficiency of Al/Al2O3 interface has been explored by employing non-equilibrium green function (NEGF) formalism coupled with DFT Variation of thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) and Seebeck coefficient (S) with Fermi energy (EF ) at different temperatures Current-Voltage Characteristics Scientific Impact/ Results Results The proposed thermo-electric generator based on α-Al/γ-Al2O3 interface shows an improved efficiency that can be utilized for the cooling of electronic devices as well as for electrification of ships, submarines, and land vehicles Optimized structure of Al/Al2O3 interface The analyses of differential potential, difference density, and density of states manifest a significant charge transfer across the interface Electrostatic differential potential Strong orbital overlapping plays the pivotal role in attaining low resistance The interface induces ultralow phonon thermal conductivity Electron difference density The enhancement of temperature increases the ZT value which mainly originates from the increased power factor of the device

Why do I think I was successful in the proposal submission process? I carefully read the BAA Contacted Program Director Look for Info Related to Navy Needs and Challenges Contacted Researcher at the Navy Lab Discussed his Research and my Expertize Established Area of Common Interest and Navy Relevance Developed Pre-proposal Contacted Again Program Director Obtained Letter of Support from the Navy Lab and Submitted Pre-proposal After Receiving Feed-back on Pre-proposal Used all Comments to Prepare Final Proposal