Ming Y. Tang

TL;DR: In this article, the ability to achieve a simultaneous increase in the power factor and a decrease in the thermal conductivity of the same nanocomposite sample and for transport in the same direction is discussed.

TL;DR: A dimensionless thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) of 0.95 in p-type nanostructured bulk silicon germanium (SiGe) alloys is achieved, which is about 90% higher than what is currently used in space flight missions, and half higher than the reported record.

TL;DR: In this article, the ability to achieve a simultaneous increase in the power factor and a decrease in the thermal conductivity of the same nanocomposite sample and for transport in the same direction is discussed.

TL;DR: In this article, the concept of using self-assembled and force-engineered nanostructures to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit relative to bulk homogeneous and composite materials is presented in general terms.

Abstract: In this study, we developed a nano-composite approach to make bulk materials with nanostructures that have lower thermal conductivity than their bulk alloy counterparts. Room temperature measurement results of Si/Ge composites with nano-particle shows lower thermal conductivity than that of Si/Ge composites made with micro-sized particles. For high density sample, we also observed thermal conductivity reduction without deterioration of electrical conductivity so that higher ZT than bulk alloy is achieved.