Abstract Scope |
Thermoelectric materials can convert thermal energy into electrical energy, and vice versa, thereby enabling applications in power generation and solid-state cooling. The performance of a thermoelectric depends sensitively on the interplay between its electronic and thermal properties. When the length of a material is scaled down and becomes comparable to a carrier’s mean-free-path, deviations from traditional diffusive transport behavior arise. For example, on the nanoscale, ballistic effects lead to a length-dependent conductivity and a breakdown of the classical Joule heating formula. In this talk, we theoretically explore how such non-diffusive phenomena impact thermoelectric performance by varying the material length from the diffusive to the near-ballistic transport regime. A coupled electro-thermal transport framework, based on the McKelvey-Shockley flux method which captures ballistic and nonequilibrium effects, is adopted. Our findings illustrate how thermoelectric conversion on the nanoscale can deviate from, and potentially outperform, that of bulk materials. |