0000000001083608
AUTHOR
Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
Thermoelectrics: From history, a window to the future
Thermoelectricity offers a sustainable path to recover and convert waste heat into readily available electric energy, and has been studied for more than two centuries. From the controversy between Galvani and Volta on the Animal Electricity, dating back to the end of the XVIII century and anticipating Seebeck’s observations, the understanding of the physical mechanisms evolved along with the development of the technology. In the XIX century Ørsted clarified some of the earliest observations of the thermoelectric phenomenon and proposed the first thermoelectric pile, while it was only after the studies on thermodynamics by Thomson, and Rayleigh’s suggestion to exploit the Seebeck effect for …
Future directions in solid state chemistry: report of the NSF-sponsored workshop
Abstract A long-established area of scientific excellence in Europe, solid state chemistry has emerged in the US in the past two decades as a field experiencing rapid growth and development. At its core, it is an interdisciplinary melding of chemistry, physics, engineering, and materials science, as it focuses on the design, synthesis and structural characterization of new chemical compounds and characterization of their physical properties. As a consequence of this inherently interdisciplinary character, the solid state chemistry community is highly open to the influx of new ideas and directions. The inclusionary character of the field’s culture has been a significant factor in its continu…