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，这样就可以将电流转化为热流用于冷却，或将热流转化为电流用于发电。热电设备已经被用于专门的应用中，但需要改进的材料来使设备能够更有效地运行。该项目将利用理论和计算来寻找具有改善热电性能的新型材料用于制冷应用。这项研究将讨论电子和晶格振动在热电材料中热和电荷传输中的作用。具有强烈电子-电子相互作用的材料将被研究，既有块状的，也有人工设计的纳米结构。该项目的目标是开发高效和准确的计算方法，可用于确定有前景的材料类别，以优化与冷却相关的竞争因素，并阐明如何使用纳米结构来改变电荷和热流以提高热电性能。该项目支持在学术研究环境和工业研发环境中对研究生的培训。该项目还为本科生提供研究经验，并支持继续开发和评估一门面向非理科学生的量子力学和材料科学课程。一个相关的推广项目将向小学生介绍量子世界的奇观。

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.