Tuning Thermal and Electrical Conductivities in Structure-engineered Nanowires for High-efficiency Thermoelectric Devices
Abstract
The search for new materials with enhanced thermoelectric properties continues to be of central importance in thermoelectricity. It has been challenging to increase the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT=S2 sigma T/k) of materials, which determines the efficiency of thermoelectric devices, because the three parameters such as Seebeck coefficient (S) electrical conductivity (sigma), and thermal conductivity (k) of bulk materials are inter-dependent. With the development of nanotechnology, ZT of nano-structured materials are predicted to be enhanced by size effects and quantum confinement effects providing the opportunities to control S, sigma k independently. In particular, for the development of highefficiency thermoelectric materials, much progress in nanowires has been made to synthesize; 1) high-quality nanowires with a great degree of control on geometry and structures; 2) measurements techniques for studying electronic and thermal transport properties of nanowires; 3) theoretical understanding of phonon transport at nanoscale.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 30, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA553436
Entities
People
- Wooyoung Lee
Organizations
- Yonsei University