This project aims at developing synthesis methods to make thermoelectric nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric properties. Efforts include synthesis of nanostructured materials, structural and property characterizations, and modeling. The material focus will be on nanostructured Si-Ge and SixGe1-x ? SiyGe1-y materials. Bulk nanostructured materials will be synthesized by first ball-milling elements of Si and Ge chunks into nanoparticles, followed by consolidating them into dense bulk using dc-induced hot-press sintering. Thermoelectric properties, including electrical and thermal conductivity, and Seebeck coefficient, will be characterized as a function of temperature. Structural characterization will be carried out on the materials by transmission electron microscope to correlate their thermoelectric properties with their structures and with the processing conditions that are needed to produce these structures. The key intellectual merits of the proposed project are in development of low-cost and mass-production nanomanufacturing routes for nanostructured thermoelectric materials that benefit from nanoscale physics usually observed in materials made from expensive processes.
This project will contribute to the efficient and environmentally friendly usage of energy since thermoelectric devices can be used for waste heat recovery into electricity. The involvement of undergraduate students, particularly under-represented groups, in multidisciplinary research with real-world applications will stimulate students? interests and attract them to address energy issues.
