EAGER: Manufacturing of Novel Functionally-Graded Thermoelectric Nanocomposites for Energy Application

这个早期概念探索性研究奖助金的研究目标是探索一种组合纳米颗粒合成/加工技术，以制造一种新型的热电材料。热电界的一个中心问题是开发具有高品质因数ZT的材料。在过去的十年中，大多数研究活动都集中在提高峰值ZT的策略上。然而，热电器件的效率取决于工作温度范围内的平均ZT。空间均匀的热电材料在大温差下工作时，其平均ZT比其峰值低得多。马里兰大学提议探索一种组合纳米颗粒合成/加工技术来制造一种新型的热电材料：功能梯度双组分纳米复合材料，其中将功能梯度原理与双组分纳米复合材料？预计将提高平均和峰值优良系数。这项工作将在实验上检查模型复合系统中的过程-结构-性能关系，在模型复合系统中，纳米组件的尺寸和组成及其空间分布可以控制。拟议的研究将与马里兰大学(UMD)、学院园区的教育使命相结合，并对学生学习和社区推广产生广泛影响。除了该项目直接支持的学生的教育和培训机会外，未被充分代表的本科生将通过本科生研究助理计划参与这项研究。研究成果还将通过环境能源工程中心(CEEE)的联盟迅速传播给业界，该联盟的成员来自30多家公司。

The research objective of this EArly-Concept Grant for Exploratory Research (EAGER) is to explore a combinatorial nanoparticle synthesis/processing technique to manufacture a new type of thermoelectric material. A central issue in the thermoelectric community is to develop materials with a high figure-of-merit ZT. During the past decade, most research activities have focused on strategies for enhancing the peak ZT. However, the efficiency of thermoelectric devices depends on the average ZT over the working temperature range. Spatially-uniform thermoelectric materials exhibit a substantially lower average ZT than their peak value when operating over a large temperature difference. The University of Maryland proposes to explore a combinatorial nanoparticle synthesis/processing technique to manufacture a new type of thermoelectric material: functionally-graded two-component nanocomposites, in which the use of the 'functionally graded' principle in conjunction with ?two-component nanocomposites? is expected to enhance both average and peak figure-of-merit. This effort will experimentally examine the process-structure-property relationships in model composite systems where the nanocomponent size and composition and their spatial distribution can be controlled. The proposed research will be integrated with the educational mission of University of Maryland (UMD), College Park and provide a broad range of impact on student learning and community outreach. Apart from the education and training opportunities for the students directly supported in this project, underrepresented undergraduate students will be involved in this research through the Undergraduate Research Assistant Program. Research results will also be quickly disseminated to industry via the consortium of Center for Environmental Energy Engineering (CEEE), which has members from more than thirty companies.