Seminar of Physics - Khandker A. Muttalib (12.10.2017)

Thursday 12.10.2017 at 15:00 hod., Lecture room C

05. 10. 2017 23.44 hod.
By: Peter Markoš

Khandker A. Muttalib (UF Gainesville):
Proposal for an industrially competitive thermoelectric device

Abstract:
About 70% of energy in a car engine is lost as heat. Thermoelectric (TE) devices can convert such waste heat into electricity. However, currently available TE devices are not very efficient for commercial purposes. In case of linear response the efficiency depends only on the material properties of the device, so efforts to increase the efficiency has focused primarily on nano- engineering of novel materials. In this talk I will show that in the nonlinear regime there is an interplay between the material parameters and the parameters of the leads as well as the load, which allows the possibility of an industrially competitive TE device based on existing materials.