Modeling Strongly Correlated Multilayered Nanostructures for use as Thermoelectric Refrigerators

该奖项支持热电材料的理论和计算研究。在这些材料中，热流和电荷以某种方式联系在一起，从而可以将电流转换为热流以用于冷却目的，或将热流转换为电流以用于发电。热电器件已经用于专门的应用，但需要改进材料，使器件更有效地运行。该项目将使用理论和计算来寻找具有改进热电性能的新型材料用于冷却应用。研究将解决电子和晶格振动在热电材料中热量和电荷输运中的作用。具有强电子-电子相互作用的材料将被研究，无论是在散装形式，还是在人工工程的纳米结构中。目标是开发有效和准确的计算方法，可用于识别有前途的材料类别，优化与冷却相关的竞争因素，并阐明纳米结构可用于修改电荷和热流以提高热电性能的方法。该项目支持在学术研究环境和工业研发环境中培养研究生。该项目还为本科生提供了研究经验，并为非理科生提供了量子力学和材料科学课程的持续发展和评估。相关的外展活动将向小学生介绍量子世界的奇妙。

This award supports theoretical and computational research onthermoelectric materials. In these materials, the flow of heat andelectric charge are linked in a way that makes it possible to convertelectrical current into heat flow for cooling purposes, or to convertheat flow into electrical current for power generation. Thermoelectricdevices are already used in specialized applications, but improvedmaterials that allow more efficient device operation are needed. Thisproject will use theory and computation to search for novel materialswith improved thermoelectric properties for cooling applications. Theresearch will address the roles of both electrons and lattice vibrationsin the transport of heat and electric charge in thermoelectricmaterials. Materials with strong electron-electron interactions will beinvestigated, both in bulk form, as well as in artificially engineerednanostructures. The goal is to develop efficient and accuratecomputational methods that can be used to identify promising classes ofmaterials that optimize competing factors relevant for cooling and toelucidate ways in which nanostructures can be used to modify both chargeand heat flow to improve thermoelectric performance.This project supports the training of graduate students, both in theacademic research environment and in the industrial R&D context. Theproject also provides research experiences for undergraduate students,and supports the continued development and assessment of a course inquantum mechanics and materials science for non-science students. Arelated outreach program will introduce the wonders of the quantum worldto elementary-school students.