[Triumf-journal-club] Triumf journal club, Next Monday

liaow@triumf.ca liaow@triumf.ca
Wed, 25 May 2005 12:08:50 -0700 (PDT)


I will try to introduce a work

Title :Reversible Thermoelectric Nanomaterials
Author:T. E. Humphrey and H. Linke
Published in PRL 94, 096601

Abstract:
Irreversible effects in thermoelectric materials limit their efficiency
and economy for applications in power generation and
refrigeration. While electron transport is unavoidably irreversible in
bulk materials, here we derive conditions under which
reversible diffusive electron transport can be achieved in nanostructured
thermoelectric materials. We provide a fundamental
thermodynamic explanation for why the optimum density of states in a
thermoelectric material is a delta function and for why
inhomogeneous doping and segmentation improve the thermoelectric figure of
merit.