Related papers: Concept study for a high-efficiency nanowire-based…
Two-dimensional materials are of interest for their exotic properties, for example, superconductivity, and highly tunability. Focusing on phonon-mediating superconductivity, one would propose to promote critical temperature by substituting…
We propose a mechanism for nanoscale energy conversion, an electric voltage induced by a temperature gradient in a junction composed of the same material having exactly the same geometric sizes, but distinct shapes. The proposed effect…
We systematically study three-terminal InSb-Al nanowire devices by using radio-frequency reflectometry. Tunneling spectroscopy measurements on both ends of the hybrid nanowires are performed while systematically varying the chemical…
Nanocomposites are promising candidates for the next generation of thermoelectric materials since they exhibit extremely low thermal conductivities as a result of phonon scattering on the boundaries of the various material phases. The…
We propose a near-field inelastic thermoelectric heat engine where quantum-dots are used to effectively rectify the charge flow of photo-carriers. The device converts near-field heat radiation into useful electrical power. Heat absorption…
We discuss the possibility of reaching the Carnot efficiency by heat engines (HEs) out of quasi-static conditions at nonzero power output. We focus on several models widely used to describe the performance of actual HEs. These models…
We provide a framework for optimizing energy conversion processes in coherent quantum conductors fed by nonthermal resources. Such nonthermal resources, which cannot be characterized by temperatures or electrochemical potentials, occur in…
We theoretically show how structural modifications and controlling quantum coherency can enhance linear and nonlinear thermoelectric performance in graphene nanostructure heat engines. Although graphene has emerged as a promising material…
The density functional theory for superconductors developed in the preceding article [cond-mat/0408685] is applied to the calculation of superconducting properties of several elemental metals. In particular, we present results for the…
Traditional thermoelectric materials rely on low thermal conductivity to enhance their efficiency but suffer from inherently limited power factors. Novel pathways to optimize electronic transport are thus crucial. Here, we achieve ultrahigh…
Nanophotonic engineering of light-matter interaction at subwavelength scale allows thermal radiation that is fundamentally different from that of traditional thermal emitters and provides exciting opportunities for various thermal-photonic…
Atomistic simulations of heat transport in complex materials are costly and hard to converge. This has led to the development of several noise-reduction techniques applicable to equilibrium molecular-dynamics (MD) simulations. We analyze…
Advances in the fabrication and characterization of nanoscale systems now allow for a deeper understanding of one of the most basic issues in science and technology: the flow of energy at the microscopic level. In this Colloquium we survey…
For thermoelectric power generation in a multi-terminal geometry, strong numerical evidence for a universal bound as a function of the magnetic-field induced asymmetry of the non-diagonal Onsager coefficients is presented. This bound…
The topic of superconductivity in strongly disordered materials has attracted a significant attention. In particular vivid debates are related to the subject of intrinsic spatial inhomogeneity responsible for non-BCS relation between the…
We present a comprehensive electrical characterization of an InAs/InP nanowire heterostructure, comprising two InP barriers forming a quantum dot (QD), two adjacent lead segments (LSs) and two metallic contacts, and demonstrate how to…
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…
The reduction of the thermal conductivity in nanostructures opens up the possibility of exploiting for thermoelectric purposes also materials such as silicon, which are cheap, available and sustainable but with a high thermal conductivity…
In optoelectronic devices such as solar cells and photodetectors, a portion of electron-hole pairs are generated as so called hot carriers with an excess energy that is typically lost as heat. The long standing aim to harvest this excess…
We demonstrate theoretically using the atomistic non-equilibrium Green's function formalism with the inclusion of self-consistent charging, the design of a superior thermoelectric generator based on an "anti-reflection" coated double…