High-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials and generators for in-pile power harvesting

The co-PI at Northwestern will fabricate high performance thermoelectric materials of high efficiency NU will provide nanostructured bulk PbTe-based materials based on the all-scale hierarchical concept of panoscopic thermoelectrics. These will be achieved with a simultaneous optimization of electrical- and thermal-transport properties in PbQ (Q=S, Se, Te) systems. Both n-type and p-type materials will be prepared. Also solid solutions of the type PbTe1-xSex and PbTe1-xSx will be synthesized and optimized. NU will also prepare nanosized materials with particle sizes of 100-500 nm and supply the Notre Dame PI Prof. Yanliang Zhang with samples for device fabrication.