SGER: Collaborative Research on Low-Cost Manufacturing of High Performance Thermoelectric Nanocomposites

本计画的目的在于发展奈米热电复合材料的合成方法，以提高奈米热电复合材料的热电特性。 工作包括纳米结构材料的合成，结构和性能表征，和建模。材料的重点将是纳米结构的硅锗和SixGe 1-x？SiyGe 1-y材料。 大块纳米结构材料将通过首先将Si和Ge块的元素球磨成纳米颗粒，然后使用直流感应热压烧结将它们固结成致密的块体来合成。 热电性能，包括电导率和热导率，以及塞贝克系数，将被表征为温度的函数。 将通过透射电子显微镜对材料进行结构表征，以将其热电性能与其结构以及产生这些结构所需的加工条件相关联。拟议项目的主要智力优势是开发低成本和大规模生产的纳米结构热电材料的纳米制造路线，这些材料受益于通常在昂贵工艺制成的材料中观察到的纳米级物理学。 该项目将有助于有效和环保地使用能源，因为热电装置可用于将废热回收为电力。 本科生的参与，特别是代表性不足的群体，在多学科研究与现实世界的应用将刺激学生？并吸引他们解决能源问题。

This project aims at developing synthesis methods to make thermoelectric nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric properties. Efforts include synthesis of nanostructured materials, structural and property characterizations, and modeling. The material focus will be on nanostructured Si-Ge and SixGe1-x ? SiyGe1-y materials. Bulk nanostructured materials will be synthesized by first ball-milling elements of Si and Ge chunks into nanoparticles, followed by consolidating them into dense bulk using dc-induced hot-press sintering. Thermoelectric properties, including electrical and thermal conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient, will be characterized as a function of temperature. Structural characterization will be carried out on the materials by transmission electron microscope to correlate their thermoelectric properties with their structures and with the processing conditions that are needed to produce these structures. The key intellectual merits of the proposed project are in development of low-cost and mass-production nanomanufacturing routes for nanostructured thermoelectric materials that benefit from nanoscale physics usually observed in materials made from expensive processes. This project will contribute to the efficient and environmentally friendly usage of energy since thermoelectric devices can be used for waste heat recovery into electricity. The involvement of undergraduate students, particularly under-represented groups, in multidisciplinary research with real-world applications will stimulate students? interests and attract them to address energy issues.