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

本学院早期职业发展（Career）计划项目的研究目标是合成和表征具有分层结构和高优值的新型有机热电复合材料，用于高效热电转换。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，可扩展的。热电转换的效率在很大程度上取决于材料的性能系数。有机材料因其轻量、丰富、易于加工和环保等优点，在热电领域具有广阔的应用前景。然而，它们目前的优点非常低，严重阻碍了它们的潜在应用。在这项工作中，将发展原始的化学和物理加工方法来合成新型层次化有机复合材料。将研究过程-结构-属性关系，以定制高绩效的分层体系结构。通过理论和实验研究界面结构和热电行为，了解层叠复合材料中的载流子输运，进而扩展声子和电子输运的极限，以获得特殊的热电性能。如果成功的话，这项研究的结果将为设计和合成具有理想体性能的纳米结构提供一种新方法。预期的结果还将导致一种新型的有机热电材料，用于高效的热电转换，并为可再生能源的收获奠定基础。该教育计划将与研究工作紧密结合，将：(1)推出一项新的计划，培养具有跨学科知识和技能的工程专业学生；2)鼓励青年学生追求科学和工程事业；3)招募和指导少数民族学生进行尖端纳米技术研究。

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.