Predictive theoretical modeling of electro-thermal transport
Jesse Maassen
Department of Physics and Atmospheric Science
Dalhousie University
Présentation en anglais
Vidéoconférence, Zomm #: 892019835 (Zoom link)
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Abstract: A major challenge facing the world today involves exploiting clean, abundant energy sources, and reducing our overall consumption. A significant untapped energy source is waste heat, accounting for ~60% of the energy humans produce. Thermoelectrics are materials that can convert heat into useful electrical power, and hence have the potential to impact our energy future. The challenge is to design or discover thermoelectrics with high conversion efficiency, which requires a fundamental understanding of how electrons and heat (phonons) flow in materials.
In this talk, I will give a brief overview of thermoelectrics, discuss our predictive modeling approach and present some of our recent findings from two studies. 1) Electron transport in GeTe, a quasi-2D material, which we predict to have unusual anisotropic properties. 2) Phonon transport across a Si-Ge interface, in which inelastic phonon scattering and non-equilibrium physics play a key role.
Bio: Jesse Maassen received B.Eng. and M.A.Sc. degrees in Engineering Physics from the École Polytechnique de Montréal in 2006. He obtained a Ph.D. in Physics from McGill University in 2011 working on first-principles simulations of nanoelectronic devices. During 2012-2015, Dr. Maassen was a postdoctoral fellow in the Electrical Engineering department at Purdue University. Since 2016 he has been an Assistant Professor of Physics at Dalhousie University. His research interests focus on exploring novel materials and devices, using predictive first-principles modeling, with an emphasis on electro-thermal transport.
For more information about Prof. Maassen, you can consult his research web page.
Cette conférence est présentée par le RQMP.
