CAREER: Exploring Novel Organic Thermoelectric Composites with Hierarchical Architecture and High Figure of Merit

职业：探索具有分层结构和高品质因数的新型有机热电复合材料

• 批准号: 1535826
• 负责人: Shiren Wang
• 金额: $ 7.13万
• 依托单位: Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2015
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2015-01-15 至 2017-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1535826&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: CAREER; Exploring; Novel; Organic; Thermoelectric

The research objective of this Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Program project is to synthesize and characterize novel organic thermoelectric composites with hierarchical architecture and high figure of merit for efficient thermoelectric conversion. Thermoelectric conversion involves the conversion between thermal energy and electrical energy. This process can be used for power generation by harvesting various heat sources and it is renewable, reliable, and scalable. The efficiency of thermoelectric conversion is significantly determined by the material's figure of merit. Organic materials hold promise for thermoelectric application due to their attractive features, such as lightweight, abundance, easy processing and environmentally-benign characteristics. However, their current figure of merit is very low, and significantly hindered their potential applications. In this work, original chemical and physical processing methods will be developed to synthesize novel hierarchical organic composites. The process-structure-property relationship will be investigated to tailor the hierarchical architecture for high figure of merit. The interfacial structure and thermoelectric behavior will be theoretically and experimentally investigated to understand carrier transport in the hierarchical composites, and then expand the limits of phonon and electronic transport for exceptional thermoelectric properties.If successful, the results of this research will enable a new method to design and synthesize nanostructures for desired bulk properties. The expected results will also result in a new class of organic thermoelectric materials for efficient thermoelectric conversion, and lay a foundation for harvesting renewable energy. The educational plan, which will be closely integrated with research efforts, will: (1) launch a new program for training engineering students with interdisciplinary knowledge and skills; 2) stimulate young students to pursue careers in science and engineering; 3) recruit and mentor minority students on cutting-edge nanotechnology research.

该学院早期职业发展（CAREER）计划项目的研究目标是合成和表征具有分层结构和高品质因数的新型有机热电复合材料，以实现高效的热电转换。热电转换涉及热能和电能之间的转换。这个过程可以通过收集各种热源来发电，它是可再生的，可靠的和可扩展的。热电转换的效率主要取决于材料的品质因数。有机材料具有质轻、量大、易加工、环境友好等优点，在热电领域有着广阔的应用前景。然而，它们目前的品质因数很低，并大大阻碍了它们的潜在应用。在这项工作中，原始的化学和物理加工方法将开发合成新的分层有机复合材料。将研究工艺-结构-性能关系，以定制高品质因数的分层结构。本论文将从理论和实验两方面研究纳米复合材料的界面结构和热电行为，以了解多层复合材料中载流子的输运，从而拓展声子和电子输运的极限，获得优异的热电性能，如果研究成功，将为设计和合成纳米结构提供新的方法。预期的结果也将导致一类新的有机热电材料，用于高效的热电转换，并为收获可再生能源奠定基础。该教育计划将与研究工作紧密结合，将：（1）启动一个新的计划，培养具有跨学科知识和技能的工程专业学生;（2）激励年轻学生追求科学和工程职业;（3）招募和指导少数民族学生进行尖端纳米技术研究。