Conferenciant: Nicolás Pérez, IFW-Dresden
Resum: Thermoelectric materials have earned success in a variety of applications, being the more relevant ones power supply for deep space missions and thermal control of the polymerase chain reaction for DNA duplication. With the aid of microfabrication technology, integrated energy harvesting or thermal management for devices in The Internet of Things can be envisioned.
Nanostructuring allowed during the past decade to increase the efficiency of thermoelectric materials by decoupling electrical and thermal transport mechanisms. Additionally, topological insulator properties become relevant at the nanoscale in the case of some best thermoelectrics (e.g. Bi2Te3, Bi2Se3), opening new possibilities for tailoring materials’ properties. However, the gap from materials to applications needs to be bridged, and a holistic approach is required, where material properties, processing, and device design have to to be considered together.
This seminar will cover fundamental and applied aspects of thermoelectricity. The effect of topological surface states on nanoscale chalcogenide thermoelectrics will be presented. And how thermoelectric measurements give insight on the properties of magnetocaloric materials. On the side of applications, aspects of wet and solid state chemical processing of materials will be presented, including reuse of waste materials. Finite elements calculations provided insight on design rules for micro-thermoelectric devices, which lead to successful on-chip integrated prototypes.
Nicolás Pérez earned his PhD in the Universitat de Barcelona in 2012 studying magnetic nanoparticles and their application in biomedicine. Currently he is a researcher at the Leibniz Institute for Solid State and Materials Research in Dresden (IFW-Dresden). He lectures Solid-State Physics and Thermoelectricity at the TU-Dresden. His research interests remain centered in nanosized materials, deepening in applied aspects related to energy, biology, and sensing.
Contact: Xavier Batlle (xavierbatlle@ub.edu)
