Symposium JJ: Nanoscale Thermoelectrics–Materials and Transport Phenomena

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Nanoscale Thermoelectrics–Materials and Transport Phenomena

The sessions in this symposium will explore various nanoscale thermoelectric materials and their devices for thermal-to-electric conversion and energy harvesting, as well as for high-performance cooling and thermal management.  There have been significant advances in thermoelectric materials’ figure of merit (ZT) using nanoscale concepts—such as nanoscale structures that reduce lattice thermal conductivity without significantly affecting electronic transport;, quantum effects to enhance density of states to increase the Seebeck coefficient; resonant states with nano-inclusions and other dopants to increase the Seebeck coefficient; energy filtering to control the flow of desirable heat-transporting carriers; and, more recently, other novel methods, like topological insulators.  These material approaches can potentially enable unprecedented gains in performance of thermoelectric devices.  The sessions, which will include invited talks from leading experts, will highlight both the fundamental nanoscale materials synthesis and nanoscale physics of transport of electrons and phonons.  The sessions will highlight the multidisciplinary nature of the research necessary to advance the field, including measurement methods, modeling and characterization tools in the area of thermal and electrical interfaces.

Session topics will include:

  • Nanostructured bulk thermoelectric materials—synthesis and characterization
  • Thin films—superlattices, nanowires, nanodots, and other concepts, synthesis, and characterization
  • Nanostructured thermoelectrics benefiting from topological insulators
  • Theory, modeling, and characterization of phonon transport nanostructured thermoelectric materials
  • Theory, modeling, and characterization of electron transport in nanostructured thermoelectric materials,
    including Landauer formalism for carrier transport in nanostructures
  • Thermionic and energy-filtering approaches with nanostructures and resonant states
  • Thermal and electrical interface characterization methods in nanomaterials 

Invited speakers include:

David Cahill (Univ. of Illinois, Urbana), Robert Cava (Princeton Univ.), Chris Dames (Univ. of California, Riverside), Davide Donadio (Max Planck Inst., Germany), Frank Gascoine (ENSICAEN-CRISMAT Lab, France), Jeff Grossman (Massachusetts Inst. of Technology), James Heath (California Inst. of Technology), Mark Lundstrom (Purdue Univ.), Nicholas Melosh (Stanford Univ.), Natalio Mingo (CEA-Grenoble, France), Takao Mori (National Inst. for Materials Science, Japan), Pramod Reddy (Univ. of Michigan), Zhifeng Ren (Boston College), Jong-Soo Rhyee (Kyung Hee Univ., S. Korea), Terry Tritt (Clemson Univ.), Wei Wang (Tianjin Univ., China), Peidong Yang (Univ. of California, Berkeley).

Symposium Organizers

Rama Venkatasubramanian
RTI International
Center for Solid State Energetics
Herbert Bldg.
3040 Cornwallis Rd.
Research Triangle Park, NC 27709
Tel 919-541-6889, Fax 919-541-6515
rama@rti.org 

Akram Boukai
University of Michigan
Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering
2038 HH Dow Bldg.
2300 Hayward St.
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Tel 734-615-8086, Fax 734-763-4788
boukai@umich.edu  

Theodorian Borca-Tasciuc
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
Dept. of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Nuclear Engineering
Troy, NY 12180
Tel 518-276-2627, Fax 518-276-6025
borcat@rpi.edu  

Kunihito Koumoto
Nagoya University
Dept. of Applied Chemistry
Furo-cho Chikusa-ku
Nagoya 464-8603, Japan
Tel 81-52-789-3327, Fax 81-52-789-3201
koumoto@apchem.nagoya-u.ac.jp  

Lidong Chen
Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, CAS
1295 Dingxi Rd.
200050 Shanghai, China
Tel 86-21-5241-4804, Fax 86-21-5241-3903
cld@mail.sic.ac.cn  

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