CITRIS Research Exchange: Solid-state thermionic energy conversion for waste heat recovery

• October 25, 2006: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
• Contact: Yvette Subramanian
• Location: 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building, the Maria & Dado Banatao Conference Room, UC Berkeley

"Solid-state thermionic energy conversion for waste heat recovery"

Ali Shakouri, Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering at UC Santa Cruz

Watch video online

12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 25 in 290 HMMB, UC Berkeley
Part of the CITRIS Research Exchange at UC Berkeley. The complete schedule for the fall semester is online at RE-fall2006. 

 

Abstract:
Energy consumption in our society is increasing rapidly. A significant fraction of the energy that is generated is lost in the form of heat. It is estimated that, in the U.S., more than 50% of the energy obtained from various sources is wasted. In this talk, we introduce Seebeck and Peltier effects, which are based on the mutual interaction of heat and electricity inside a material. Applications from spacecraft power to remote electricity generation will be briefly discussed. We will also introduce recent advances in the field, including novel nanostructured materials in which the heat and charge transport are modified at the atomic level. At the Thermionic Energy Conversion Center, a consortium of twelve research groups from seven universities, we are working to optimize thermoelectric properties of embedded metallic nanoparticles and superlattices.

Biography:
Professor Shakouri received his Diplome d'Ingenieur in 1990 from Ecole Nationale Superiere des Telecommunications in Paris, France, and his Ph.D. in 1995 from the California Institute of Technology. He studies quantum electronics, nano and microscale heat and current transport in semiconductor devices, thermoelectric/thermionic energy conversion, submicron thermal imaging, micro refrigerators on a chip and novel optoelectronic integrated circuits. He has been honored with both a Packard Fellowship in Science and Engineering and an NSF CAREER Award.

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