CBE’s Herbert L. Stiles Associate Professor Yue Wu and colleagues have now had work featured as a “Research Highlight” in the journal Nature Reviews Materials. It stems from publication of “Highly Porous Thermoelectric Nanocomposites with Low Thermal Conductivity and High Figure of Merit from Large-Scale Solution-Synthesized Bi2Te2.5Se0.5 Hollow Nanostructures” in the journal Angewandte Chemie in January.
“Thermoelectric Materials – The Power of Pores” is the title of the article in the February 2017 issue of Nature Reviews Materials, which focuses on the research that has yielded a method for the production of porous thermoelectric nanocomposites with extremely low thermal conductivity and good electrical conductivity. It involves a self-templating multistep method to make hollow nanorods that were then pulverized and re-pressed to form a nanocomposite. Because the nanorods are hollow, the nanocomposite is highly porous.
The lightweight nature of the material opens to door for use in things such as wearable devices to use body heat to generate electricity; other wearable devices; mobile devices and communication systems. Wu reports it can also be used in small solid-state refrigerator units to store things such as medical supplies and food.
The paper’s authors are CBE postdoctoral research associate Biao Xu, Tianli Feng, Matthias T. Agne, Prof. Dr. Lin Zhou (Ames Laboratory, Department of Energy, Ames, IA), Prof. Dr. Xiulin Ruan, Jeffrey Snyder, and Wu.