Related papers: Concept study for a high-efficiency nanowire-based…
Thermoelectric device is a promising next-generation energy solution owing to its capability to transform waste heat into useful electric energy, which can be realized in materials with high elec- tric conductivities and low thermal…
Large efforts in improving thermoelectric energy conversion are devoted to energy filtering by nanometer size potential barriers. In this work we perform an analysis and optimization of such barriers for improved energy filtering. We merge…
We study a thermal engine model for which Newton's cooling law is obeyed during heat transfer processes. The thermal efficiency and its bounds at maximum output power are derived and discussed. This model, though quite simple, can be…
We report a detailed analytic and numerical study of electronic thermal conductivity in d-wave superconductors. We compare theory of the cross over at low temperatures from T-dependence to T^3-dependence for increasing temperature with…
We study the thermoelectric properties of three-dimensional topological insulators in magnetic fields with many holes (or pores) in the bulk. We find that at high density of these holes in the transport direction the thermoelectric figure…
We propose a theory of low temperature thermal transport in nano-wires in the regime where a competition between phonon and flexural modes governs the relaxation processes. Starting with the standard kinetic equations for two different…
Nanostructured materials and nanocomposites have shown great promise for improving the efficiency of thermoelectric materials. Herein, Fe nanoparticles were imbedded into a CrN matrix by combining two physical vapor deposition approaches,…
When biased at a voltage just below a superconductor's energy gap, a tunnel junction between this superconductor and a normal metal cools the latter. While the study of such devices has long been focussed to structures of submicron size and…
In these lectures, superconductivity in impure thin films close to the absolute zero of temperature is discussed. The behavior as function of the applied magnetic field and the amount of impurities suggests the presence of a…
Efficient thermoelectric materials are highly desirable, and the quest for finding them has intensified as they could be promising alternatives to fossil energy sources. Here we present a general first-principles approach to predict, in…
We propose a simple classical dynamical model of a thermoelectric (or thermochemical) heat engine based on a pair of ideal gas containers connected by two unequal scattering channels. The model is solved analytically and it is shown that a…
The wave-like nature of electrons leads to the existence of upper bounds on the thermoelectric response of nanostructured devices [R. S. Whitney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130601 (2014); Phys. Rev. B 91, 115425 (2015)]. This fundamental result,…
The design of uranium-based thermoelectric materials presents a novel and intriguing strategy for directly converting nuclear heat into electrical power. Using high-level first-principles approach combined with accurate solution of…
The thermal gradient along indium-arsenide nanowires was engineered by a combination of fabricated micro- trenches in the supporting substrate and focused laser irradiation. This allowed local control of thermally activated oxidation…
We analyze the benefits and shortcomings of a thermal control in nanoscale electronic conductors by means of the contact heating scheme. Ideally, this straightforward approach allows one to apply a known thermal bias across nanostructures…
Designing thermoelectric materials with high figure of merit $ZT=S^2 G T/\kappa$ requires fulfilling three often irreconcilable conditions, i.e., the high electrical conductance $G$, small thermal conductance $\kappa$ and high Seebeck…
Energy filtering has been suggested by many authors as a means to improve thermoelectric properties. The idea is to filter away low-energy charge carriers in order to increase Seebeck coefficient without compromising electronic…
As a result of suppressed phonon conduction, large improvements of the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, have been recently reported for nanostructures compared to the raw materials' ZT values. It has also been suggested that low…
Achieving low thermal conductivity and good electrical properties is a crucial condition for thermal energy harvesting materials. Nanostructuring offers a very powerful tool to address both requirements: in nanostructured materials,…
Herein, we report the use of nanostructured crystalline Si as a thermoelectric material and its integration into thermoelectric harvesters. The proof-of-concept relies on the partial suppression of lattice thermal transport by introducing…