Position Title
Distinguished Professor
- Electrical and Computer Engineering
Thermoelectric generators, energy storage, power conversion, solar cells
Woodall studies intermittent alternative power conversion and global scale energy storage. One of his research focuses is a gallium-activated aluminum technology that splits water into high-purity hydrogen, high-purity alumina and heat as a global energy storage medium and how it can be converted to 24/7 electric power. He also studies a heat energy storage system that uses the heat fusion of an Al-silicon eutectic composition and its conversion to 24/7 electric power using a heat engine. This work involves developing new materials for efficient thermoelectric generators (TEG). Other projects include two junction, tandem high-efficiency concentrator solar cells, the photolysis of water using solar-irradiated p+GaP cathodes and the reduction of sub-band gap defect states in Ga2O3 to create a truly solar-blind UV detector.