Working with the University of Cambridge and the University of Birmingham by Andrij Vasylenko, Samuel Marks, Jeremy Sloan and David Quigley from the University of Warwick Physics, the researchers found that effective thermoelectric materials can be shaped into thinnest nanowires by thinning them.

Thermoelectric materials harvest waste heat and convert it into electricity, and are highly sought after as renewable and environmentally friendly energy sources.

Dr. Andrij Vasylenko, Department of Physics at Warwick University and author of the paper, commented:

“Insulated nanowires transmit less heat and more power than three-dimensional materials. These unique properties create unprecedented thermoelectric conversion efficiencies in dimensional materials.”

Researchers - including Dr. Andrew J. Morris from the University of Birmingham - are studying the crystallization of tin telluride in very narrow carbon nanotubes, which are used as templates for the formation of these materials in the lowest dimensional form.

In the combination of theory and experiment, they can not only establish the direct dependence between the template size and the nanowire structure, but also prove how the technology can be used to adjust the thermoelectric efficiency of tin . The diameter of the chelate is 1-2 atoms. Nanowires .

The first author, Dr. Vasylenko, was excited about the results of this study:

“This provides an opportunity to develop a new generation of thermoelectric generators, as well as an alternative candidate for exploring the rich and non-toxic chemical elements of thermoelectric materials.”

As the demand for miniaturization and efficiency of thermal appliances continues to grow, nanostructures provide a viable way to achieve these two goals.

Their results are reported in the ACS Nano magazine .

DOI: 10.1021 / acsnano.8b02261