Thermoelectricity

Thermoelectricity describes the physics of energy conversion, from heat to electric power, and from electric power to heat or cooling power in solids.

The working fluid consists of the conduction electrons. While this classical subject has a long and distinguished history, very recent developments in nanotechnologies have revolutionized the field. It was recognized in the 1990s that low-dimensional systems should result in materials with much better efficiencies than bulk materials, through low-dimensional effects on both charge carriers and lattice waves. Such improvements have been experimentally demonstrated in the early 2000s.

This book is aimed to be the first monograph describing low-dimensional thermoelectricity in a comprehensive and systematic manner. It follows the classical outline of monographs on thermoelectricity, but is written in such a way that low-dimensional effects follow naturally from the transport equations. It is aimed at the professional researcher in academia as well as industry, and at graduate-level students in materials engineering, applied physics and chemistry.