Mildred Dresselhaus - New Ideas for Advancing Thermoelectric Performance

A series of new ideas has been proposed during the last two decades for enhancing the figure of merit of thermoelectric materials, but the interdependences of the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical conductivity, and the thermal conductivity make the problem very difficult to solve. A new idea, proposed by Shuang Tang, which suggests an approach to achieving a more convergent path towards enhancing the thermoelectric figure of merit will be discussed. Recent progress made with pursuing this approach will be illustrated and discussed.