Related papers: From thermal rectifiers to thermoelectric devices
In recent years, the study of heat to work conversion has been re-invigorated by nanotechnology. Steady-state devices do this conversion without any macroscopic moving parts, through steady-state flows of microscopic particles such as…
As the dimensions of physical systems approach the nanoscale, the laws of thermodynamics must be reconsidered due to the increased importance of fluctuations and quantum effects. While the statistical mechanics of small classical systems is…
The temperature dependence of the dielectric permittivity is taken into account to study the energy change in a capacitor that follows a cycle between a cold and a hot thermal reservoirs. There is a net energy gain in the process that, in…
We consider continuously monitored quantum systems and introduce definitions of work and heat along individual quantum trajectories that are valid for coherent superpositions of energy eigenstates. We use these quantities to extend the…
Controlled heat transfer and thermal rectification in a system of two coupled cavities connected to thermal reservoirs are discussed. Embedding a dispersively interacting two-level atom in one of the cavities allows switching from a…
We present general calculations allowing to express the thermodynamical coefficients and thermophysical properties (compressibility, thermal coefficients and heat capacities) of a material composed of a mixture of two constituents or…
The bottleneck in modern thermoelectric power generation and cooling is the low energy conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials. The detrimental effects of lattice phonons on performance can be mitigated, but achieving a high…
The quest for good thermoelectric materials and/or high-efficiency thermoelectric devices is of primary importance from theoretical and practical points of view. Low-dimensional structures with quantum dots or molecules are promising…
Coupling between heat and electrical currents is at the heart of thermoelectric processes. From a thermal viewpoint this may be seen as an additional thermal flux linked to the appearance of electrical current in a given thermoelectric…
We demonstrate that when a quantum dot is embedded between the two reservoirs described by different statistical distribution functions, the reverse flow and amplification of heat can be realized by regulating the energy levels of the…
We present and discuss a selected set of problems of classical mechanics and thermodynamics. The discussion is based on the use of the impulse-momentum equation simultaneously with the centre-of-mass (pseudo-work) equation or with the first…
The concepts of weighted reciprocal of temperature and weighted thermal flux are proposed for a heat engine operating between two heat baths and outputting mechanical work. With the aid of these two concepts, the generalized thermodynamic…
So far, the efficiency of thermoelectric energy conversion remains low compared to traditional technologies, such as coal or nuclear. This low efficiency can be explained by connecting the thermoelastic properties of the electronic working…
We consider a system formed by two different segments of particles, coupled to thermal baths, one at each end, modeled by Langevin thermostats. The particles in each segment interact harmonically and are subject to an on-site potential, for…
It has been proposed for a long time now that the reduction of the thermal conductivity by reducing the phonon mean free path is one of the best way to improve the current performance of thermoelectrics. By measuring the thermal conductance…
We study experimentally the thermal fluctuations of energy input and dissipation in a harmonic oscillator driven out of equilibrium, and search for Fluctuation Relations. We study transient evolution from the equilibrium state, together…
Thermodynamic parameters such as temperature and pressure can be defined from the statistical behavior of a system. Therefore, thermal fluctuation is an inseparable characteristic of these parameters which eventually finds its way into…
The generation of thermopower in a miniaturized device modeled as a channel connected to reservoirs/contacts maintained at different temperatures is studied in this work. The left reservoir is also coupled to a periodic THz driving source…
We study nonlinear transport effects on the maximum efficiency and power for both inelastic and elastic thermoelectric generators. The former refers to phonon-assisted hopping in double quantum-dots, while the latter is represented by…
We study time-dependent heat transport in systems composed of a resonant level periodically forced with an external power source and coupled to a fermionic continuum. This simple model contains the basic ingredients to understand time…