Thermoelectric Materials for Transportation Applications and Microscopic Modeling of Phonon Modes in Nanostructures
报告人:
Prof Shang-Fen Ren
Department of Physics, Illinois State University
报告时间:
2007-07-04 16:00
报告地点:
科学馆二层 213
主办单位:
物理系
简介:
Transportation is the most important economic sector depending on oil in the US. On the other hand, the transportation sector contributed about 34% of waste heat of the total waste heat produced by all the economic sectors from all primary energy sources. With thermoelectric technology, there is a potential to directly convert some of the waste heat to electricity to provide power. But there are still materials barriers to be addressed in the development of cost effective thermoelectric devices. To overcome these barriers and to gain insights of the material properties, a clear understanding of the material properties at the atomic level is in need. In this talk, I will discuss the applications of thermoelectrics in transportation and the role of my own research of microscopic modeling of phonons and electrons has played in searching for the most efficient thermoelectric materials.