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SUMMARY:A sound idea: engineering phonons to convert heat into electricity
  - Phil Hasnip (York)
DTSTART:20210224T113000Z
DTEND:20210224T123000Z
UID:TALK156007@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Chuck Witt
DESCRIPTION:Thermoelectric materials have the potential to dramatically im
 prove the energy efficiency of many devices and industrial processes by co
 nverting waste heat into electricity. An ideal thermoelectric material has
  high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity\, requirements 
 which are often in conflict. I will introduce the fundamental physics of t
 hermoelectrics\, and how they may be modelled accurately using ab initio q
 uantum mechanical simulations to explain the behaviour of current material
 s as well as predicting entirely new thermoelectrics. \n\nOnce a suitable 
 thermoelectric material has been selected\, the standard methods to improv
 e thermoelectric performance usually rely on introducing defects to scatte
 r heat-carrying phonons\, yet such defects often scatter the current carri
 ers as well. An alternative approach is to pattern the material at the nan
 oscale to create a nanophononic metamaterial (NPM)\, designing the phonon 
 resonances to suppress the lattice thermal conductivity whilst leaving the
  electronic properties almost unchanged. Designing efficient NPMs calls fo
 r challenging\, large-scale modelling with the accuracy of ab initio simul
 ations\, and I will present new advances in this area. Initial simulations
  of such NPMs already predict thermoelectric properties far in excess of t
 he corresponding bulk materials\, and pave the way for a new generation of
  cheap\, efficient thermoelectric devices.
LOCATION:Zoom
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