Energy consumption in our society is increasing rapidly. A significant fraction of the energy is lost in the form of heat. In this talk we introduce thermoelectric devices that allow direct conversion of heat into electricity. Novel metal-semiconductor nanocomposites are developed where the heat and charge transport are modified at the atomic level. Theory and experiment are compared for embedded ErAs nanoparticles in InGaAlAs semiconductor matrix as well as for ScN/ZrHfN metal semiconductor multilayers. Potential to increase the energy conversion efficiency and bring the cost down to $0.1-0.2/W will be discussed.

Ali Shakouri is a professor of electrical and computer engineering and the Mary Jo and Robert L. Kirk Director of the Birck Nanotechnology Center at Purdue University . He received his Ph.D. from California Institute of Technology in 1995. His research interests include quantum electronics, nano and microscale heat and current transport in semiconductor devices, thermoelectric/thermionic energy conversion, submicron thermal imaging, micro refrigerators on a chip and novel optoelectronic integrated circuits

Discovery Park, Purdue Unversity
Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
Indo-US Science & Technology Forum
NSF - Office of International Science and Engineering
nanoHUB.org

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• Ali Shakouri (2015), "Symposium on Nanomaterials for Energy: Nanostructured Thermoelectric Materials for Waste Heat Recovery," https://nanohub.org/resources/13992.

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