Symposium EP13-Thermoelectrics—Materials, Methods and Devices

Thermoelectric effects build a robust bridge which directly connects thermal energy and electricity, thus can be utilized for thermoelectric generators and refrigerators. A high performance thermoelectric material needs both decent electrical transport and low thermal conduction; nevertheless, the coupling between the thermal and electrical transport properties in thermoelectrics makes this aim more like a “mission impossible”. In thermoelectrics, the attempts which look for ideal phonon-glass-electron-crystal (PGEC) have never stopped. In order to decouple the entanglements between these thermoelectric parameters, new methods and novel mechanisms must be proposed and successively realized. Besides, the criterion for a decent thermoelectric material has to be reexamined. The over-emphasis on peak ZT might not benefit the development of this field in the long term. The average performance over a large temperature gradient, the stability, machinability, cost and eco-friendly or not shall also be taken into consideration. Moreover, arising problems during thermoelectric module/device design and fabrication processes should be under focus, since the overall device performance rather than the material performance in laboratory is the one which motivates the investment and research input.

The overall intent of this symposium is to provide a forum for worldwide scientists/researchers to discuss critical issues we faced currently in thermoelectrics and future “blueprint” for thermoelectric development. Content associated with new materials investigations, thermal/electrical transport mechanisms, high-throughput material screening, organic or inorganic/organic composite thermoelectrics, strategies of electronic band design, rational modulation of microstructures, thermoelectric device design and applications, and et al. is encouraged to be submitted to this special symposium. Moreover, this symposium is interested in interdisciplinary materials which exhibit the potential of thermoelectric effects or can cooperate with current thermoelectric techniques. Researchers/scientists in thermoelectrics and all related fields are invited to participate in this symposium to help realize the ultimate “thermoelectric dream”-commercial application.

• New materials with promising thermoelectric performances.
• Novel methods/mechanisms which decouple the entanglements of the thermal/electrical transports in thermoelectrics.
• Thermal stability and mechanical properties of thermoelectrics.
• Organic/flexible thermoelectric materials and characterizations.
• Mechanisms and models of thermal and electrical transport in organic thermoelectric materials.
• Robust design principles for thermoelectric modules and devices.
• Low temperature materials and mechanisms for cryogenics cooling.
• Interdisciplinary materials with novel thermoelectric effects.

• Qiang Li (Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA)
• Gang Chen (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA)
• Ling Chen (Beijing Normal University, China)
• Franck Gascoin (CRISMAT Laboratory, France)
• Zhifeng Ren (University of Houston, USA)
• Anke Weidenkaff (Fraunhofer IWKS and TU Darmstadt)
• Jihui Yang (University of Washington, USA)
• Wenqing Zhang (Shanghai University, China)
• Claudia Felser (Max Plank Institut, Germany)
• Xavier Crispin (Linkoping University, Sweden)
• Kanishka Biswas (Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, India)
• Joseph P. Heremans (The Ohio State University, USA)
• Bo B. Iversen (Aarhus University, Denmark)
• Mercouri Kanatzidis (Northwestern University, USA)
• Marisol Martin - Gonzalez (Instituto de Micro y Nanotecnología)
• Cewen Nan (Tsinghua University, China)
• Nini Pryds (Technical University of Denmark, Denmark)
• Xun Shi (Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, China)
• G. Jeffery. Snyder (Northwestern University, USA)
• Mori Takao (National Institute for Materials Science, Japan)
• Lidong Zhao (Beihang University, China)
• Tiejun Zhu (Zhejiang University, China)