IRES: International Collaboration on Fabrication and Characterization of Nanocrystalline Bismuth Telluride Materials for Thermoelectric Applications

在这个项目中，伦斯勒理工学院（RPI）的研究生和本科生将在西班牙马德里（IMM）的微电子研究所进行为期8周的夏季研究。与IMM的合作重点是研究电沉积纳米晶碲化铋材料，用于高效的热电能量转换。纳米电沉积最近被证明是提高热电材料效率的一种非常有效的方法;同时，电沉积是一种廉价的技术，可用于制造纳米结构材料。将进行系统的研究，以调查方法来控制电沉积材料的微晶尺寸，强调电沉积的空间限制，这将通过在圆柱形纳米孔中沉积来实现。 新材料的热电性能将被彻底表征，以将微晶尺寸与性能增强相关联。RPI学生将参与材料合成（在IMM）和性能表征（在IMM和RPI）。作为西班牙暑期课程的先决条件，所有学生都将与PI进行独立研究，了解与拟议研究相关的实验方法和理论方面。更广泛的影响是多方面的。制造高效热电装置的成本有效的方法将极大地促进热电装置在许多领域中的应用，最重要的是用于废热回收。此外，这将是第一次探索电化学沉积的空间限制，以控制电镀材料的晶粒尺寸。这些研究的结果可能会在其他领域中找到应用，如纳米制造;纳米孔中的电镀可能成为开发纳米晶材料的基本工具。此外，参与这项研究的学生将开始建立一个国际专业网络，并将学习在跨学科，多文化的环境中工作。 这种合作的结果将通过在会议上的演讲、期刊论文的出版以及对高中学生和教师的宣传来传播。

In this program, graduate and undergraduate students from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) will carry out research for 8 summer weeks at the Institute of Microelectronica in Madrid (IMM) in Spain. The collaboration with IMM is focused on investigating electrodeposited nanocrystalline bismuth telluride materials for highly efficient thermoelectric energy conversion. Nanocrystalinity has been recently shown as being a very effective method for improving the efficiency of thermoelectric materials; in parallel, electrodeposition is an inexpensive technique that can be used to manufacture nanostructured materials. A systematic study will be undertaken to investigate methods to control crystallite size of electrodeposited materials, with emphasize on spatial confinement of electrodeposition, which will be achieved by deposition in cylindrical nanopores. The thermoelectrical properties of the new materials will be thoroughly characterized to correlate crystallite size with property enhancement. RPI students will participate in both material synthesis (at IMM)) and property characterization (at IMM and RPI). As a pre-requisite to the summer program in Spain, all students will take an independent study with the PI to learn about experimental methods and theoretical aspects relevant to the proposed studies.The broader impact is multi-faceted. A cost-effective method for manufacturing highly efficient thermoelectric devices will greatly facilitate the application of thermoelectric devices in numerous fields, most important for waste heat recovery. Moreover, this will be the first time to explore spatial confining of electrochemical deposition to control grain size of electroplated materials. The results of these studies may find applications in other fields such as nanomanufacturing; electroplating in nanopores could become a basic tool for developing nanocrystalline materials. Furthermore, the students involved in this study will start building up an international professional network and will learn to work in an interdisciplinary, multi-cultural environment. The results of this collaboration will be disseminated by presentations at conferences, publication of journal papers, as well as outreach to high school students and teachers.