Related papers: From thermal rectifiers to thermoelectric devices
The understanding of the underlying dynamical mechanisms which determine the macroscopic laws of heat conduction is a long standing task of non-equilibrium statistical mechanics. A better understanding of the mechanism of heat conduction…
We discuss the problem of heat conduction in classical and quantum low dimensional systems from a microscopic point of view. At the classical level we provide convincing numerical evidence for the validity of Fourier law of heat conduction…
Nonlinear heat transfer can be exploited to reveal novel transport phenomena and thus enhance peo-ple's ability to manipulate heat flux at will. However, there hasn't been a mature discipline called nonlinear thermotics like its counterpart…
We review theoretical approaches to analyzing efficiency of steady state heat to work conversion which is crucial in the timely problem of optimizing efficiency of small-scale heat engines and refrigerators. A rather abstract perspective of…
Thermoelectricity is the direct conversion of temperature gradient to electric voltage, and vice-versa. There are several potential applications of thermoelectricity, ranging from clean noiseless cooling, to waste-power harvesting in…
Thermoelectric efficiency is defined as the ratio of power delivered to the load of a device to the rate of heat flow from the source. Till date, it has been studied in presence of thermodynamic constraints set by the Onsager reciprocal…
Thermoelectric effects, such as the generation of a particle current by a temperature gradient, have their origin in a reversible coupling between heat and particle flows. These effects are fundamental probes for materials and have…
Solid-state thermoelectric devices are currently used in applications ranging from thermocouple sensors to power generators in satellites, to portable air-conditioners and refrigerators. With the ever-rising demand throughout the world for…
Transverse thermoelectric effects interconvert charge and heat currents in orthogonal directions due to the breaking of either time-reversal symmetry or structural symmetry, enabling simple and versatile thermal energy harvesting and…
We study quantum transport through two-terminal nanoscale devices in contact with two particle reservoirs at different temperatures and chemical potentials. We discuss the general expressions controlling the electric charge current, heat…
Improvement of thermoelectric systems in terms of performance and range of applications relies on progress in materials science and optimization of device operation. In this chapter, we focuse on optimization by taking into account the…
Thermoelectric devices are heat engines, which operate as generators or refrigerators using the conduction electrons as a working fluid. The thermoelectric heat-to-work conversion efficiency has always been typically quite low, but much…
We present an overview of recent advances in the study of energy dynamics and mechanisms for energy conversion in qubit systems with special focus on realizations in superconducting quantum circuits. We briefly introduce the relevant…
Within the emerging field of quantum thermodynamics the issues of heat transfer and heat rectification are basic ingredients for the understanding and design of heat engines or refrigerators at nanoscales. Here, a consistent and versatile…
We describe nonlinear phonon-thermoelectric devices where charge current and electronic and phononic heat currents are coupled, driven by voltage and temperature biases, when phonon-assisted inelastic processes dominate the transport. Our…
Fluctuation theorems are fundamental extensions of the second law of thermodynamics for small nonequilibrium systems. While work and heat are equally important forms of energy exchange, fluctuation relations have not been experimentally…
By converting waste heat into electricity through the thermoelectric power of solids without producing greenhouse gas emissions, thermoelectric generators could be an important part of the solution to today's energy challenge. There has…
We develop a flow renormalization approach for periodically-driven quantum systems, which reveals prethermal dynamical regimes and associated timescales via direct correspondence between real time and flow time behavior. In this formalism,…
The form of energy termed heat that typically derives from lattice vibrations, i.e. the phonons, is usually considered as waste energy and, moreover, deleterious to information processing. However, with this colloquium, we attempt to rebut…
Thermal rectification which is a diode-like behavior of heat flux has been studied over a long time. However, a universal and systematic physical description is still lacking. In this letter, a perturbation theory of thermal rectification…