There is, I think, something ethereal about i —the square root of minus one. I remember first hearing about it at school. It seemed an odd beast at that time—an intruder hovering on the edge of reality.

Usually familiarity dulls this sense of the bizarre, but in the case of i it was the reverse: over the years the sense of its surreal nature intensified. It seemed that it was impossible to write mathematics that described the real world in …

I and i

다중혈관 관상동맥 환자에서 y-문합을 이용하여 양쪽 내흉동맥만을 사용한 우회술의 조기 성적

[신간의 별자리x] 우리/미술, 그리고 ‘슬픔의 박물관’

If they could be easily exfoliated, layered materials would become a diverse source of two-dimensional crystals whose properties would be useful in applications ranging from electronics to energy storage. We show that layered compounds such as MoS2, WS2, MoSe2, MoTe2, TaSe2, NbSe2, NiTe2, BN, and Bi2Te3 can be efficiently dispersed in common solvents and can be deposited as individual flakes or formed into films. Electron microscopy strongly suggests that the material is exfoliated into individual layers. By blending this material with suspensions of other nanomaterials or polymer solutions, we can prepare hybrid dispersions or composites, which can be cast into films. We show that WS2 and MoS2 effectively reinforce polymers, whereas WS2/carbon nanotube hybrid films have high conductivity, leading to promising thermoelectric properties.

/pdf/two-dimensional-nanosheets-produced-by-liquid-exfoliation-of-4215j2k2b1.pdf

Two-Dimensional Nanosheets Produced by Liquid Exfoliation of Layered Materials

Thermoelectric materials are solid-state energy converters whose combination of thermal, electrical, and semiconducting properties allows them to be used to convert waste heat into electricity or electrical power directly into cooling and heating. These materials can be competitive with fluid-based systems, such as two-phase air-conditioning compressors or heat pumps, or used in smaller-scale applications such as in automobile seats, night-vision systems, and electrical-enclosure cooling. More widespread use of thermoelectrics requires not only improving the intrinsic energy-conversion efficiency of the materials but also implementing recent advancements in system architecture. These principles are illustrated with several proven and potential applications of thermoelectrics.

http://engin1000.pbworks.com/f/TE_rev.pdf

Cooling, heating, generating power, and recovering waste heat with thermoelectric systems.

The dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in bismuth antimony telluride (BiSbTe) bulk alloys has remained around 1 for more than 50 years. We show that a peak ZT of 1.4 at 100°C can be achieved in a p-type nanocrystalline BiSbTe bulk alloy. These nanocrystalline bulk materials were made by hot pressing nanopowders that were ball-milled from crystalline ingots under inert conditions. Electrical transport measurements, coupled with microstructure studies and modeling, show that the ZT improvement is the result of low thermal conductivity caused by the increased phonon scattering by grain boundaries and defects. More importantly, ZT is about 1.2 at room temperature and 0.8 at 250°C, which makes these materials useful for cooling and power generation. Cooling devices that use these materials have produced high-temperature differences of 86°, 106°, and 119°C with hot-side temperatures set at 50°, 100°, and 150°C, respectively. This discovery sets the stage for use of a new nanocomposite approach in developing high-performance low-cost bulk thermoelectric materials.

/pdf/high-thermoelectric-performance-of-nanostructured-bismuth-4evuadx0tz.pdf

High-Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys

http://absimage.aps.org/image/MAR08/MWS_MAR08-2007-001627.pdf

High Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys.

By ball milling alloyed bulk crystalline ingots into nanopowders and hot pressing them, we had demonstrated high figure-of-merit in nanostructured bulk bismuth antimony telluride. In this study, we use the same ball milling and hot press technique, but start with elemental chunks of bismuth, antimony, and tellurium to avoid the ingot formation step. We show that a peak ZT of about 1.3 in the temperature range of 75 and 100 °C has been achieved. This process is more economical and environmentally friendly than starting from alloyed bulk crystalline ingots. The ZT improvement is caused mostly by the lower thermal conductivity, similar as the case using ingot. Transmission electron microscopy observations of the microstructures suggest that the lower thermal conductivity is mainly due to the increased phonon scattering from the increased grain boundaries of the nanograins, precipitates, nanodots, and defects. Our material also exhibits a ZT of 0.7 at 250 °C, similar to the value obtained when ingot was used. This study demonstrates that high ZT values can be achieved in nanostructured bulk materials with ball milling elemental chunks, suggesting that the approach can be applied to other materials that are hard to be made into ingot, in addition to its advantage of lower manufacturing cost.

https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/schools/cas_sites/physics/pdf/Ren/Nanoletters%208%202580-2584%202008.pdf

Enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit in p-type nanostructured bismuth antimony tellurium alloys made from elemental chunks.

In this work, phonon transport in two-dimensional (2D) porous silicon structures with aligned pores is investigated by Monte Carlo simulations considering the frequency-dependent phonon mean free paths (MFPs). A boundary condition based on the periodic heat flux with constant virtual wall temperature is developed for the studied periodic structures. Such periodic boundary conditions enable the simulation of the lattice thermal conductivities with a minimum computational domain. For the 2D case, it is found that phonon size effects caused by the periodically arranged pores can be remarkable even when the pore size and spacing are much larger than the averaged phonon MFPs. Our results show the importance of considering the frequency dependence of phonon MFPs in the analysis of micro- and nanostructured materials.

Frequency-dependent Monte Carlo simulations of phonon transport in two-dimensional porous silicon with aligned pores

We have assembled tin dioxide nanobelts with low-power microheaters for detecting dimethyl methylphosphonate (DMMP), a nerve agent simulant. The electrical conductance of a heated nanobelt increased for 5% upon exposure to 78 parts per billion DMMP in air. The nanobelt conductance recovered fully quickly after the DMMP was shut off, suggesting that the single-crystal nanobelt was not subject to poisoning often observed in polycrystalline metal oxide sensors. While the sensitivity can be improved via doping nanobelts with catalytic additives, directed assembly or growth of nanobelts on microsystems will potentially allow for the large-scale fabrication of nanosensor arrays.

http://www.nanoscience.gatech.edu/zlwang/paper/2005/05_APL_3.pdf

Qing Hao

Papers

High-Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys

High Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys.

Enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit in p-type nanostructured bismuth antimony tellurium alloys made from elemental chunks.

Frequency-dependent Monte Carlo simulations of phonon transport in two-dimensional porous silicon with aligned pores

Integration of metal oxide nanobelts with microsystems for nerve agent detection