Nuevas estrategias de optimización termoeléctrica (ATTHENOS)
- Funding agency: Agencia Estatal de Investigación. Proyectos prueba de concepto (Ministerio de ciencia, innovación y Universidades, Gobierno de España). Ref. Ref. PID2020-117409RB-I00
- Awarded amount: 152 k€
- Project duration: 3 years (2021-2024)
- Principal investigator: Prof. Dr. J. Rodríguez Viejo
The global energy demand is growing at a faster rate than the implementation of clean and sustainable energies, which hinders the adoption of effective measures to combat climate change and air pollution and requires the emergence of additional technologies such as thermoelectricity, which due to its current low efficiency compared to other energy sources has little industrial implementation. However, today it can be stated with clarity that the future is electric and it is a fact that a large part of the energy produced is dissipated in the form of waste heat. Using this heat to improve the efficiency of other processes is a challenge still to be solved and depends on the development of new thermoelectric materials and more efficient devices. In parallel, the growing need for sensors and actuators in a world with increasing connectivity makes it necessary to develop devices with very specific functionalities. The aim of ATTHENOS is to explore, from a mostly experimental point of view, the possibility of manipulating heat and charge flows to optimize the thermoelectric behavior of materials. This is intended to be achieved with a multi-oriented approach, from the study of novel and little studied materials, to the development of advanced measurement techniques and using the coupling of multi-physical processes to improve thermoelectric efficiency. ATTHENOS is fed by the experience demonstrated by the Group of Nanomaterials and Microsystems of the UAB for the study of thermal and transport properties in low-dimensional or nanostructured systems.
The project is structured in FOUR work packages: WP1: Thermal transport and thermoelectricity in low dimensional inorganic materials. A new measurement method is developed to separate the intrinsic thermal resistance from the contact resistance and to be able to accurately measure nanowires and 2D materials. WP2. Transport and thermoelectricity in disordered organic thin layers. The main challenge is to manipulate the molecular orientation while maintaining the structural disorder and decoupling the thermal and electrical transport. In parallel, strategies to improve electronic mobility are developed. In WP3, combined effects of light and thermoelectricity are studied in ultrafine layers of semiconductor materials, in order to understand the mechanisms associated with charge transport and to evaluate the conditions in which significant improvements in the efficiency of the devices can be obtained. WP4 is focused on the development of several thermoelectric based devices for various specific applications, from flow sensors to position detectors. The results of this project are part of CHALLENGE 3: Safe, Efficient and Clean Energy, of the Spanish Research Plan R+D+I 2017-2020. However, the research proposed here is very broad concerning its applications and fits in with other activity sectors, such as CHALLENGE 7: Digital Economy, Society and Culture through the development of sensors for Internet of Things applications, as well as CHALLENGE 1: Health, Demographic Change and Well-being through the development of a thermoelectric-based sensor that can facilitate the early detection of obstructive sleep apnea (OSAS).